Mass Effect: Precedent of Paragon
by ngrey651
Summary: An adaptation of the Mass Effect series, beginning with the First Contact War. It began on the newly-established human colony of Shanxi, as a group of soldiers and mercenaries arrive to do routine guard duty...but now we come to the tale of one such mercenary, Jack Harper. Having been in contact with a strange artifact, he seems perched upon the edge of Evolution itself...
1. Precedent of Paragon

_The mountain wind was bitter, stinging deep into the skin with all the ferocity of a dog's bite, the wind howling like a wolf as the two young men made their way to the top. It was a stupid thing, really. They'd gotten somewhat lost in the bad weather whilst out on the mountain. Not a big deal, really, under normal circumstances._

_But the mountain was going to shut down before its normal closing hours. The land was normally cold and chilly this time of year, but this time the edge of winter was digging in more deeply than in previous winters, and blood had been drawn. In the case of our protagonists this had become a literal truth, the eldest could feel his skin had broken open due to the harsh, dry weather that was engulfing him and the youngest. _

_He held his grey-gloved hand up to the top of his helmeted head, cringing slightly behind the black and grey scarf he wore which was doing little now to shield his face from the cold. He tried to peer through the dense cloud that was engulfing the top of the mountain, but all of it was in vain. He could make out where they'd just gotten off, but the very thing that had brought them up was shut down right now, they were the last ones off and they needed to make their down to the "Sachem" trail. _

_If they could only make it from the "Rim Runner" to Sachem they'd be alright. Sachem would take them back to the road, back to their home, back to the warmth of soft blankets, to hot beverages, to their family waiting eagerly for them at home. They were supposed to be old enough to handle this. This was not a big deal. They could get through this fine if they were careful._

_Taking deep, pained breaths, the eldest turned to his beloved family, the baby of the family. He nodded, pointing in the direction of Rim Runner, the youngest nodding eagerly back as they move as fluidly as they could across the whiteness beneath, despite the thin cover that was faintly visible in what little light was bathing over the mountain. They were going to take it slow, be careful. Yes, it was so gusty and chilly that they could have been in a wind tunnel at the bottom of the world, but if they could just make the half-hour run down the slope before them-_

_Then, the sound. That horrible, horrible sound that immediately sends shivers down the spine of anybody that's ever gone out into the winterlands. A "SKRRRIITTCCCH-ing" kind of noise, high pitched, biting, like nails on a chalkboard. The sound that means you are SLIDING ON ICE._

_Inherent, long-kept panic bubbling swiftly to the surface of the youngest. His arms flail instinctively, his balance is lost. He trips, spinning across the ice…off the course. The eldest has been luckier, he keeps his balance as he swiftly dives after the youngest, not caring about the bumpy terrain that he and the youngest are riding down. But eventually he too falls onto his side, panting and heaving as pain shoots up his arm._

_He growls angrily and manages to wrench himself free of the skis as the baby of the family screams for him. He scrambles down the hill as the youngest continues to tumble down, down towards a harsh, seemingly unending drop. His hand reaches out, one glove grasping one mitten, then another glove reaching out and taking hold of HIS…_

_He tries to tug the youngest up. But the eldest has been up and down the mountain with the youngest for five hours. His legs are worn, pulsing with pain, feeling as though they are fire despite the bitter cold that is ravaging him as he pants and heaves. His arms feel so weak and floppy, he tries desperately to make the necessary tug that will yank the baby of the family up to some degree of safety-_

_The youngest manages to get hold of his shoulder, but tugs instinctively, trying to pull himself up. And with that, the two plummet off the side, down, down into the deep, down into darkness…_

_The two strike something, darkness instantly claiming them. And with that…_

_Silence. _

**Mass Effect:**

**PRECEDENT OF PARAGON**

* * *

"In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decade that has followed, these mysterious artifacts have revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis for this incredible technology is a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time, and it…is the greatest discovery in human history."

The man took a deep, long drag of a cigarette as he sat inside of the Raptor-class shuttle carrier that was lowering him and his mercenary platoon down to the main base on Shanxi, the skies an odd, unsettling reddish hue that matched the faint red light within the loading/unloading dock of the shuttle. Once the back hatch opened, they'd be on sweet, sweet land and could get to work.

But that was still quite a ways away. As purplish cloud after purplish cloud passed by the small circular windows of their ship, Jack Harper had to listen to this annoying, fresh new face go on and on about the discovery of the new technological devices that humanity had discovered, first on Mars, then at Charon, Pluto's "moon". He couldn't stop talking about the fascinating new leaps and bounds in science and technology that the discovery of these "Mass Relay" things, as the Protheans had described them in the ruins on Mars, had given to mankind.

His problem was he'd heard this all five times before. The young man speaking was about 20 something years old, and was part of the back guard designed to assist his mercenary group integrate with the troops on the newly established colony of Shanxi. And the kid had done nothing but talk about how amazing the alien tech was. Over and over and OVER. Couldn't he change the subject? Talk about Something! Anything! ANYTHING other than the-

"Sorry, I know I drag on." The kid insisted, his hazel eyes looking nervously away from the bearded Mr. Hackett, his commanding officer nodding appreciatively as the kid held his hands in his lap. Commander Hackett adjusted the blue cap atop his head, tilting it slightly to the side as he raised a thick black eyebrow up.

"You're all hopped up. How come?"

"It's just…I'm visiting somebody very close to me, sir." The kid nervously admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck, Jack Harper taking another drag of his cigarette before tossing the little stub away and rubbing his fingers through his deep, rich brown hair. "Somebody who's stationed at Shanxi and head of the garrison is waiting for me. My cousin."

"Your _cousin_?"

"Luke." The kid said with a nod. "The son of my dad's sister. Really nice kid. Big smile. Blonde hair, big dimples. Big cheeks and smiles run in the family." He added, pointing at himself and giving a toothy grin as Jack chuckled slightly, rolling his eyes.

"You're awfully confident considering we've been getting reports of that enemy force lingering around here…and considering I'm not here to do your cousin's toenails, I'm afraid we've most likely been sent into Vietnam in space. We're the occupying force, I'd wager, not knowing how we're going to move forward, how we're going to win…let alone how we're going to survive." Jack said as he pointed at the kid, who blinked slightly before shrugging.

"Sir, I got to be Captain because I don't have any fear of death, and the skills to cheat it over and over again." The kid told him. "Everyone in this shuttle brings something new to Shanxi to help defend it should it come under fire. Maybe we're not over our heads. Maybe we're just good enough to make a difference and push these things back…whatever they may be."

Jack Harper shrugged, pulling out another cigarette from his thick white overcoat and lighting it up, blowing a small ring of smoke through the air as the shuttle finally touched down, and light began to pour in as the docking hatch opened wide, fresh and cool air sweeping in, propelled by a gentle, alluring wind. "We'll see, kid. I hope you surprise me."

…

…

…

…the primary fortification center of Shanxi was a circular, silve building with faintly jagged-ending pillars, each of which were infantry dormitories. A smaller ring surrounded it, filled with various colonial settlements which had the same rounded-top-dome design that the primary army headquarters of the colony possessed. The sun faintly glimmered off the top of each dome as blue lights lit up the sides of each building, and the early morning had left dew which faintly slicked down off the roofs to plop down on orange grass below, an odd, evocative smell coming off the soft grass as young Lucas, head of the 1st Garrison folded his arms before his chest, nodding securely at his commanding officer, General Williams.

"They'll be here shortly, sir."

The general looked Lucas over with both eyes, Lucas's gaze drawn to the general's scar, a long, horizontal cut across the general's right cheek that was about half a foot long, and which looked painful. It was a miracle that it hadn't struck the general's eye…whatever blade had done it had just barely missed him by centimeters. His general brushed his faint brown hair back, taking a deep breath as he turned to look out over the settlement.

"The exploratory fleet I sent out hasn't reported back yet. I'm getting concerned. You understand the importance of getting as many men here as possible. We were lucky to have anybody sign up to assist."

"My cousin would always be happy to assist us, sir. When I heard he had risen to the rank of Captain and was eager to aid our exploratory operations I knew he'd be here the minute he heard I was here." Lucas admitted to the general as Williams's soft grey eyes widened ever-so-slightly in interest, his face becoming amused as the shuttle took off, Hackett having other cities to visit, other garrisons to inspect.

"Your cousin, eh?" The general asked as the sound of the shuttle landing filled the air with a "SCHA-FIISSSSH" noise, he and Lucas turning as it touched down in the loading area by the northwest region of the main settlement. They made their way past reddish/brown bushes that resembled ferns, striding with a small platoon of guards as they greeted the newcomers to Shanxi, General Williams being saluted by one mercenary after another, the rear guard soon coming up behind the last of them, a cheery-faced, brown-haired young man with hazel green eyes that stepped up after Jack Harper had stepped to the side.

He saluted passionately with a firm nod, then immediately held Lucas in a tight hug. "LUKE!" He cried happily.

"TORTOISE!" Lucas laughed, returning the embrace and patting his cousin on the back as General Williams chuckled a bit, the others in the group all joining in with a couple snorts, giggles and guffaws.

"Tortoise? Really?" Jack Harper asked, taking a deep breath of another cigarette before a glare from General Williams made him accidentally SWALLOW the thing, making him vomit on the grass with a "CHUGK-HAK" sound as Lucas's cousin's already-rosy cheeks turned redder still from embarrassment over the pet name.

"It's because a tortoise is older than a turtle. My brother's nickname is Turtle and I'm the older one so I'm Tortoise." The kid mumbled with a faint, nervous laugh.

"He saved my life once, sir." Lucas said as he saluted the general again. "We were up skiing at Okemo ages ago, another lifetime ago. His efforts to pull me up got me discovered intact and mostly unharmed. Took them another three years before they could find him, but they found him!"

"Ah, yes, I remember the story well. "Family Found Frozen in Frost"." Jack Harper realized, speaking out loud as the others turned briefly at him. "You two were popsicles on a far-off mountain in Vermont. I'm surprised they found you at all. Guess you're lucky. All those amazing technological advancements you kept talking about are the only reason you were able to be unthawed and returned to normal."

"The need to go where no man has gone before pretty much saved my life, sir." The kid said as he nodded at Jack Harper, then at General Williams. "And I will go wherever you wish with this fine crew. Who knows? The next thing we find could help us discover time travel for all we know."

"That'd be something." General Williams said with a nod. "I want you and the men here to do a patrol, Captain, but I don't want you going more than three clicks from outside this base, you understand? Take point and then head on back. Everything by the book whilst I try to get in contact with our exploratory force we sent through that Mass Relay." He informed them all with an authoritative, almost fatherly tone. "Mr. Harper, you've got training to undertake. You don't know the first thing about this planet, but we've got some training regimens we've crafted for Shanxi."

Captain Lucas saluted. **"We won't fail you, sir!"** He proclaimed along with the rest of the assembled group, all of them snapping at attention, only the kid's gaze moving over to the deep, reddish woods that stretched out on all sides around the colony of Shanxi...a faint unease rising in him as he chewed on his lip.

He had a **bad** feeling about this.

…

…

…

…the wind faintly blew through the crimson trees as they took up point for the fourth time this week, moving in a large circle out from the center point of Shanxi. The kid and Lucas weren't too far from each other, only a hundred yards as they pushed past the thick red foliage around them in their matching steely armor, the "N6" and "N5" patches on their chest the only real indication of difference between the two's chest armor, though the kid was wearing a tie-dyed headband that was stretched across his forehead, and a mood necklace in the shape of a cross that you could see hanging off his neck and down the nape of his chest armor. They were, in Lucas's mind, without any real camouflage. Cover, sure, but not camouflage.

Still, there was a good part to all of this. They could move quietly through the undergrowth about them, everything seemed muffled and quiet. If they could just keep on their guard and keep their eye out, they'd be fine and would notice any potential dangers. They weren't looking for trouble, but if it came close, they'd deal with it easily enough. After all, they had come prepared, the kid especially, he, the eldest, was packing a secret weapon in a compartment hidden around his leg, by his thigh.

It was an oldie but a goodie, a classic firearm. Nothing like the weaponry he was now carefully aiming through the trees, designed to generate ammunition by shaving off a projectile the size of a sand grain from a dense block of metal contained within the weapon's body, a projectile that would be propelled violently by decreasing its mass within a small mass effect field from within the weapon, barreling out at the target, thousands of tiny rounds being propelled from a single ammunition block…

And as a faint sound filled the air, Lucas and his cousin stiffened, knowing they'd have to put those weapons they wielded to use. Lucas wheeled to the left, something rising up which had been hidden in the undergrowth and crouching almost impossibly low, tossing aside a faint and rudimentary blanket of some kind designed to blend in with the environment, a blanket their foe evidently felt he didn't need now because Lucas was right in his line of fire and so darn CLOSE-

But Lucas's cousin was the best shot in the family. A sniper rifle shot rang through the air, the form being forced to dive into a nearby set of bushes as Lucas blinked for a moment before emptying his gun in the direction of the bushes, the being that had hidden away racing off through the woods as more and more forms caught their sight, moving just out of the corner of their eyes as Lucas's cousin roared out a warning to everyone else on their private communicator line.

"They're here, they're HERE! Emergency maneuvers!" He screamed, ducking as one of their foes fired off in his direction, a greyish, face-painted blur he couldn't get a good look at. He frowned to himself as he hid behind a tree before taking a deep breath, racing through the trees towards the form with a bellowing cry, Lucas letting out a warning, "Nick, no, wait"…

THA-BLAM! He slammed into the being as it managed to shot off a couple rounds, but they thudded against his body almost uselessly, he barely felt the strikes as the two went tumbling down a hill, rolling down, down, thick grass whacking their faces over and over again as the young captain finally came to a slamming halt, hitting a rock that the other had rolled into as well, the two letting out faint moans before the kid rose up…

Only to find the other had gotten to HIS feet first and was now pointing a small, powerful-looking plasma pistol that looked like it belonged in the hands of "Robocop". He blinked his hazel green eyes as he stared into the silvery/blue eyes of his opponent, surprised at what type of creature this was. He'd heard reports, but had never seen one of them up close. It appeared to be a sort of reptilian humanoid of some variety, with faintly avian features, bent back legs, a thin, lithe body beneath the dark blue armor this being had and bird-like claws clearly visible, as evidenced by the specialized gloves and boots it wore. It's mandibled mouth spread open slightly as it's voice growled some kind of command at him.

How odd. What a strange type of voice, like he was saying the same thing twice, and yet at the same time. Like two identical people were speaking at once…what was that effect? "Flanging", yes. The Beatles had done it-why was he thinking about the Beatles? This alien being had a gun pointed right at him and was about to give him a third nostril.

It spoke angrily again, giving him an annoyed look as the kid turned his head slightly, the alien noticing out of the corner of its eye a few other similar aliens approaching. One was very similar to itself, but whilst the kid's captor had a bluish/purple crest on its deep silvery face, the second alien had blackish/blue, and was slightly older, with two long mandibles spreading out at the top, the third alien being a reddish/brown alien in color with one interesting feature: white facial paint over specific points on its body in thick, ornate stripes with piercing green eyes that looked the human over.

The first alien repeated its demand AGAIN, but this time Nick was able to gleam what he was saying…somewhat. He recognized the language.

"Quid agis, Desolas?" The second one asked

"You speak Latin." Nick remarked. "And you want to know my name."

"Quis est vestri nomen!?" The alien who was sticking his pistol in the kid's face demanded angrily.

"Nescio." _(I don't know.)_ Nick wisecracked, chuckling a bit, earning him a whack across the face as he spat at the ground, frowning angrily at this person, "Desolas", evidently, who was pointing his gun in his face.

"Quis…est…vestri…nomen?" Desolas snarled.

"Nemo me impune lacessit." _(Nobody provokes me with impunity!)_ Nick growled back in his face, the alien beings looking at each other in interest before Desolas chuckled slightly.

"Inusitatissima iocaris." _(You've got a funny sense of humor) _He informed the kid, raising a nonexistent eyebrow as he motioned for Nick to move over to the other two, blinking as he noticed something that had begun to spread slowly but surely, Nick blinking as he looked down at the large wound on his side. "…hmm." Desolas mused…his guard temporarily lowered as he looked at the wound.

Nick made his move. He rushed forward, grabbing Desolas's arms and twisted them behind him with his hands, pinning them behind the alien with one hand whilst his other snatched up the weapon he had hidden in his hidden thigh compartment, pointing it at the other two, eyes glaring darkly.

"Non fieri potest!" _(It is impossible!) _The eldest of the aliens exclaimed.

"Nil mortalibus ardui est." _(Nothing is impossible for humankind._) Nick insisted as the third one adjusted something at the collar piece of his deep red and black armor, his facepainted face focusing in on Nick's face.

"Resistere irritum est, adulescens…give up. We outnumber you."

Nick blinked in surprise, but didn't lower the gun. "You have a translator." He realized. "Look, back off! I'm walking out of here, your friend is coming with me. This is a 44 Magnum. The most powerful handgun in the world. It can blow his head clean off."

"He said give up, you…THING." The second one snarled, his tone becoming dark, a furious, baleful glint coming to his steely eyes as Nick positioned the gun squarely underneath Desloas's chin, making the second one's eyes bug out as his voice immediately dropped an octave. "Wait, no, **stop**!"

Nick slowly moved it back to Desolas's forehead, raising a thick eyebrow up. "You're being awfully calm about this. Kudos." He complimented. "They train you well wherever you come from…where DO you come from?"

"Oh no you don't. You know how this works. All you'll get from us is our name, rank and file number." Desolas muttered, gritting his fangs.

"Look. You guys fired on us first, okay?! I think my kind are owed some answers, alright?" Nick snapped back at them as they circled each other ever-so-slowly, looking back from his prisoner to the other two. "So where are you from and what're you doing on Shanxi?"

"So that's what you call this place? Shanxi? Alright. Very well." The third one said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "We are Turians, from Palaven. My name is Nihlus Kryik. This is my comrade, Saren Arterius. I believe you know his brother."

Nick's eyes immediately widened, his mouth opening slightly as Saren saw the gun twitch and a nervous expression come to this strange being's face. "…younger brother?" He asked quietly.

"…yes." Saren said quietly.

"…alright. Alright." Nick sighed, head lowered slightly as he let go of Desolas, stepping away as Desolas stood by the other two. "Why are you pushing us?"

"W-what?" Saren asked.

"Why are you **pushing** my species? Humans have never met you guys before now, now you're picking fights with us. Are you guys trying to conquer us for some stupid reason or do you just enjoy blasting the beejeebus outta anything that moves?" Nick demanded to know.

"Don't tempt us into blasting you, you're bleeding very heavily." Saren told him with a faint air of superiority, chuckling slightly as he rested his head upon the top of one clawed hand, shaking said head back and forth.

"Lightheadedness or not I'm not just letting you walk away until I get answers." Nick muttered, blinking slightly, the Turians well aware he was probably minutes from passing out. "What are you doing here? Why are you attacking us?"

"We're not "attacking". Your race are the aggressors."

"We're not the ones who fired on you first. You attacked OUR ships first."

"But you invaded Council space and activated a Mass Effect relay."

"Counc-LOOK!" Nick yelled out, waving the gun in the air. "SOLDIERS! FROM OUTER SPACE! HERE! **WHY?!**"

"You're a bunch of evidently easily frightened fools who activated something you weren't supposed to **touch**. Nobody who hasn't been approached by our intergalactic governing body, the Council, is to even get within ten lightyears of the Mass Relays and make use of them. But YOU'VE been activating every single one you can get your hands on!" Saren snapped at him, pointing an accusatory claw.

"There's an intergalactic government." Nick said, frowning a bit before shaking his head rapidly back and forth, mumbling something under his breath. "Well, still, you guys can't go around s-shooting…shooting up my…my men, I'll…I'll have to take you into custody and-and…" He turned to look down at his wound, seeing the blood was now dripping out of his armor through considerable cracks to pool on the grass. "…aw, DANG." He sighed, finally collapsing unconscious on the grass.

Nihlus knelt by the human after they stood there, watching him for a few moments before he listened in for the youngling's breathing. "…he…doesn't appear to be breathing. I believe he's dead." Nihlus remarked, sighing slightly. "Such a waste. He looks even younger than you were when you first joined. I doubt he even knew how to fire that weapon."

"He wouldn't have done it. I could see it in his eyes. He didn't have that steely **resolve** you need for such an action." Saren said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "We should alert the others. A ground approach is out of the question. We'll engage in orbital bombardment tactics and force them out so they can no longer cower in their burrows."

As the threesome walked off, the body of the young human was left alone, the wind faintly blowing through the grass and the trees above, faint leaves flickering through the air, several of them settling on his body as silence reigned for what seemed to be many hours, the faint roar of spaceship engines filling the air…

Hazel/green eyes snapped open.

…

…

…

…Lucas couldn't believe how fast things had gone south as he used his binoculars to peer out from the hill he and his men had been forced to hide out by. They'd been caught completely off guard by the sudden laser bombardment, the death from above that had barreled down on Shanxi from high above and ravaged the central facility of Shanxi and all of the outlying cities on the far rim of the planet. And now…

Now these stupid "skull faces" were combing through the wreckage to get anything they could scavenge. A hateful glare came to Lucas's face…they'd taken his cousin from him. Just after he'd gotten Nick back, now…

And now they'd taken down another large city on the outer rim of Shanxi's most densely populated civilian area. Targeting civilians was low. **Low**.

But if they were going to play dirty…so would the team he was leading…the team that included one Mr. Jack Harper who had a small party on the far side of one such "captured" facility.

"Get ready. There's four inside. Three behind. The building is yours, Hislop. We're on the stragglers." Harper whispered, tossing a look at the blond-haired, ponytailed woman to Hilsop's right as she brushed two thick locks out of the way of her eyes, her blue eyes narrowing along with Hilsop his jet-black hair seemed to bristle.

They leaped out from within the truck they'd been hiding in, their faces lit up as they lit the Turians up with burning-hot reddish/purple blasts of energy, Ben Hilsop's face contorted with a furious, hateful rage as he fired off at the Turians. "DIE, SKULL FACES!" He snarled out, the Turians being blown away by their onslaught as they barrled at them, catching them utterly unaware.

One by one they downed Turian warrior after Turian, and it looked like the day would belong to them as Jack saw the ponytailed Dr. Eva blasting through another Turian like his armor was tissue paper, dropping him on the spot…before his eyes widened in horror. Ben was being pinned to the ground by a furious-looking Turian, the only one left, who was overpowering him quickly.

THUDDA-THRAK! Jack piled into him, making him drop his gun as he pinned HIM to the ground, Ben hissing darkly, putting his pistol to the being's head. "You stinkin' vultures! Not enough you bomb innocent colonists, you have to pick through the ruins!"

"Stand down, Ben." Jack insisted, putting a hand on Ben's shoulder, speaking comfortingly. "I can't interrogate him if he's **dead**."

"I'm-I'm SORRY, man." Ben groaned as he stood away and his arms hung limpy at his sides. "Seeing these settlements on fire up close-I…I mean, my brother's one of the casualties they wiped out!"

"Hey, Captain Lucas lost family too. We've all suffered here. That's why we joined the cause. But hey, if you want to kill more Turians after this is done, join the military." Jack insisted.

A beep from a large, streamlined "MAKO" armored tank/jeep that made them glance up at the bulky, big-wheeled vehicle, a cannon smoothly turning away from them as the occupant climbed out, Captain Lucas grinning. "Jack, the Man wants to see you. You and your prisoner can ride in the back."

"And what a sweet ride it is." Dr. Eva Core admitted, putting her pistol away as she brushed her ponytail back a bit, noticing Jack had found some device in the turian's pocket.

"This some kind of communicator?"

"That would be none of your business. I doubt you'd be able to fathom it anyway."

"We might surprise you, Turian." Jack said with a slight chuckle, pushing the Turian towards the enormous vehicle, climbing down a short ladder to the dark red insides of the Mako. "We might just surprise you."

…

…

…

… "The name isn't "Turian", it is DESOLAS." The Turian they'd captured mumbled as he turned his head to the side, his voice becoming cold and angry. "Release me to my people and I may be merciful."

"Ah, and they **are** your people, aren't they? You're a general. Well, this IS quite the nice surprise." Jack Harper said as they sat in an interrogation room, steely blue/grey walls surrounding them as Desloas's hands were kept tied behind his back in thick cuffs, angrily grinding his teeth. "Guess what, general? We're doing you a favor. We're heading for your camp right now."

"My comrades, my brother included, are lying in wait with superior numbers and firepower, human. Saren himself was strong enough to save me from a frozen death when we were children, shielding my body with his as we waited for help for DAYS. He can handle anything you throw at him, as can my men. Why not follow the example that most of your military has set in these past few weeks…and escape whilst you can." Desolas snapped out, bluish spittle flying from his mouth.

"That's a really touching story about your brother, Mr. Arterius. But, thing is...we took care of YOUR squad easily enough. Maybe **you're** the ones who should have stayed home." Another voice spoke up, a shadowy form speaking from a nearby hallway, arms folded across his chest, familiar yet…somehow Desolas couldn't place him.

"Such typical arrogance. New arrivals always want everything. The galaxy becomes your personal feast. I'm sure the stars look quite inviting from your home. But let me in on a little secret…" Desloas said, whispering quietly. "Others were here FIRST. This area of the galaxy is important, and off limits to ALL species. **You're. Not. Welcome. Here**." Desolas said, extenuating every word.

"Well you're welcome to kiss my ASS, pal!" Ben said, sticking his assault rifle in Desloas's face as the Turian frowned slightly, continuing where he'd left off.

"Rules are important to us Turians. Our code defines who we are. And you can't just go moving wherever you want. We're not giving you one kilometer of Shanxi…north, south, east or west."

"You sure talk big with a gun right in your face." Ben murmured as the figure in the hallway snorted slightly before bursting into a short fit of laughter.

"He's used to it. Again, I gotta say, Desolas. _Kudos_."

Desolas's eyes widened as he snapped his head in the direction of the hallway, hazel/green eyes cheerily gleaming on that familiar, brown-haired face, curly/wavy hair brushed back above a tye-died headband. "_Y-you_? But…you…"

"Like I said. We humans might **surprise** you. In fact, I've got another surprise for your men. Tell me…what do you think?" Jack Harper said, having finished typing up at a nearby console as a perfect holo-vid imitation of Desolas appeared, popping up on the small datapad he'd kept with him. "And on your secure channel of all things. Quite a good likeness. And I've just about got the voice down."

Jack cleared his throat. "Lieutenant! I've escaped! Meet me one kilometer east from your location!" He said, his voice being augmented and shifted by the datapad program he'd just crafted as Deslolas's eyes narrowed, Nick blinking as he looked deep into the Turian's eyes.

"…your eyes." He said quietly, Desolas noticing an air of genuine concern coming into the human's voice. "…they've got a…glow to them. Are you okay?" He inquired.

"…my health is of none of your concern human." Desolas mumbled, looking away and to the side. "I've no idea how you survived. But you should have just gone home. This plan will just get you killed."

"Well, then. _Nos morituri te salutamus._" Nick said, giving Desolas a snappy salute.

"Yes, we who are about to die salute you. We happy few, we band of **buggered**." Jack said with a grin, lighting up a cigarette.


	2. I, Orphan

**CHAPTER TWO: **

**I, Orphan**

_It went pretty simply…at first. I remember him telling me everything, remember every detail of the story like I was there myself…can see the concern flickering in his hazel eyes like it was only yesterday. _

_If I close my eyes, I see them entering the cave where a special artifact lay…a relic that the one named Desolas had found with his crew. Jack and Ben approached, amazed at the helix-like glowing crystal before them, confused and disturbed by what they saw. There were chains wrapped around its spiked base, and as they knelt down to feel it, they couldn't believe what they saw: track marks._

_Someone had carried chains that weighed at least two tons…and used them to drag a crystal into a cave. What monster could do that?_

_They found out a moment later. Nick let out a cry. He was launched through the air, slamming into the wall as they took notice of odd, partially robotic Turians that were racing towards them from the dark recesses of the caves. The snarls of hateful fury filled the air, near-mindless and cold words, whispering out from their fanged mouths in tongues that were indecipherable to all but Nick, who turned pale when he heard them speak._

_He tried to stand up as they fired on the things, amazed at how many shots it took to down them, confused at the glowing blue cybernetic implants embedded in their bodies. Jack remarked that the beings seemed "evolved", and that they had to alert General Williams. They tried to call him up…_

_Or at least, Jack did. No such luck. Ben thought perhaps the relic was causing interference. He reached out to touch it…_

_Lighting sparked off the relic. Nick remembered them screaming. He tried to stand up as Jack tugged at Ben, who had foolishly touched the relic. Jack was sent flying back and Nick ran to Ben, who convulsed on the ground as Eva approached Jack from behind, all of them soon made prisoners by the Turians as they stormed in, guns at the ready. _

_All of them feared for their lives…_

"Oh, c'mon, C'MON!" The dark-haired young lad insisted as he and the rest of his friends sat on the curb of Tenth Street, folding his arms before his chest, his deep eyes gazing intently at Mr. McKay's wrinkled old face. "Tell us what happened next! You can't end it on a cliffhanger like that!"

"I'm sorry, boys." Lucas chuckled as the other members of the "Reds" groaned, the youngest members of the infamous street gang moaning as one as the pale-haired old octogenarian waved a hand in the air as he sat on a floating hover-chair and adjusted his thick-rimmed glasses. "That's all you get for today. You won't get the rest of the story until you come back tomorrow."

"Same time, same place old man?" The young lad named Shepherd inquired as he raised a thick eyebrow up, Mr. McKay nodding vigorously, glasses bouncing up and down as Shepherd's close-cut-haired friend Finch rubbed the back of his head as Shepherd led him and the rest down the street towards an alleyway, flying cars passing overhead with loud, vibrant mechanical roars. The planet Earth still had a beautiful blue sky despite the fact you could faintly see the remains of space stations not quite perfected floating high above, some slightly closer than the moon.

Earth had been going through a kind of golden age. With the discovery of the Mass Effect relays, new technology had gone leaps and bounds. Now the fields that the relays generated weren't just used for launching small slugs through the air to tear through flesh harsher than a cannonball, nor did they launch spaceships through faster than light travel. No, that had led the way to even greater developments, from teleportal technology, eco-friendly skyscrapers made out of materials that wouldn't rot the Earth…why, gasoline was a thing of the past.

From the slowly lowering pollution to the crime rates across the globe, things were looking pretty damn good for humanity. But the problem was that not everyone could see that.

"It's the perfect time of year, somewhere far away from here." Shepherd sang to himself as he and the rest of the gang banged on a false wall in an alleyway, opening up a hidden door that slid up to allow them easy access into an elevator shaft. Things were fine, just…not for people like him. People like him were just trying to go day by day, with the little things slowly building up to make their lives better. If they could just hold on a bit and get themselves out of the city…really make something of themselves, maybe get an education…

But you needed a lot to get that out. You needed money to pay for that education. You needed a foot in the door.

"This, my friends…this is our ticket to the **big time**." Their friend Noah insisted as they finally hopped out of the elevator, their wild-haired buddy waving cheerily at them from the circular bean bag chair he was sitting in, a hovering computer console circling slowly around him at his command, a pair of large, specialized headphones hanging around his neck. He clapped his hands together, blue eyes aglitter with ideas as the console halted in place and small vid screens floated out from the dark blue walls of their private "clubhouse" deep within the recesses of the city to hover before each and every member of the Tenth Street Reds. "We've been contacted by Themis."

Immediately jaws dropped, eyes widened as Shepherd gasped slightly. "Themis?! THE Themis?" He asked. To say that Themis was big time would be an insult to the craft. The Quarian wasn't just one the "Cadre", the security team established by the Systems Alliance and the Council themselves, no. The smooth operator ran the city's black market and was said to be remarkably rich. They could faintly see his eyes burning through the dark visored face he had on the vid-screens that floated around them, see the power in his arms, currently folded across his chest as they heard his voice.

"Your friend Noah was quite…brave…to ask me for funds. I too understand the importance of a good education, my young humans."

Shepherd noticed Finch was flinching slightly, looking like he wanted to puke. It was bad enough in Finch's mind that Turians and Asari were used to teach human biotic, aka "psychic" techniques, and that Salarians and Krogan helped train police forces on proper "takedown techniques" which had occasionally been practiced on the Tenth Street reds themselves. But now the stupid "fishtank faces" were part of a security team? Why? For **diversity**?!

Still, as funny as it might have been to see Finch start spouting off ridiculously racist pap, Shepherd knew this was one time Finch would keep his big, nationalistic pride to himself. When Themis talked, you freakin' listened.

"You see, I need someone to investigate a shop in the lower quarter. Men of mine have been going in. Some…haven't been coming out. And the ones that have, well…" The quarian waved his three-digited hand in the air, the almost bird-like curved legs and feet he had stepping back a bit as Shepherd could swear he saw the Quarian retch slightly behind the mask. "Have come back…not quite themselves. I need people who, frankly, nobody will miss to investigate it. Orphans, such as yourselves, will work for practically **peanuts**."

Shepherd's other friend, the Red's tagalong buddy Lewis, raised a gloved hand up, waving the thick-digited black thing in the air, taking a step forward towards one of the floating vid-screens before him. "You…ARE…" He began to roar out before finally lowering it back down with a snap, hanging his head. "Absolutely right."

"Good thing you recognize not to pick a fight with me. I've got my little hands in so many venues here in your city that I can easily make every one of you disappear if you really annoy me." Themis went on, the faint echoey tone to his fluid voice ringing through the room as he folded his arms across his tightly-armored dark blue and black chest. "You are to examine the shop from top to bottom and report back to me, and if you do well, you'll be rewarded handsomely. For starters, I won't have you thrown in jail for that vandalism trick you pulled last week."

Noah blushed a bit as Shepherd raised a hand up. "My bad." He confessed, Themis chuckling slightly. "If I'd known that was your car I NEVER would have stolen the boosters off of it."

"I'm more impressed you got them out without sounding the alarm. That kind of streetwise wisdom will do you well for this little assignment." Themis told them with a nod of his helmeted head, Noah typing into the hovering computer console to his right as the vid screens displayed a map of Tenth and Main. "The shop is at this location. Report everything you find. I'll have my special operators for 911 waiting for you. Ask for the "Cadre" line and say Themis sent you."

…

…

…

…as they pushed the door open, they were instantly struck by how disturbingly…**empty** it all was. The shelves were cleared off of all tchotchkes, knickknacks and souvenirs, the boxes in the shop windows were opened and empty…yes, the store was **closed**, but still, this all felt wrong somehow.

Weirder still, the door to the back of the store wasn't real. Lewis poked it with one of his thick gloves as Shepherd gave him a "what are you doing" look, raising an eyebrow in the air as the short-haired stubby tubby kid nervously grinned back. "What?"

"Can't you use something that isn't your own hand? What if you set off the alarm-in fact, why didn't you check the door for an alarm, Lewis?" Shepherd wanted to know as he slapped his forehead, shaking it back and forth.

"I'm not good at that kind of thing. When it comes to checking for alarm systems, I'm not that kind of thief." Lewis insisted as he passed a hand through the now-obvious hologram of the door in back of the service counter of the dimly lit store, all of them making their way through the hologram and down deep, deep through a series of stairways hewn from the stony material the basement of the store was made of.

Musky scents filled the air, foul and malodorous, choking their throats as they finally pushed open a door, peeking through the crack this made as they saw the owners of the store walking past with recent "customers", all of whom were so obviously not their normal selves. There was a faint bluish glow to their bodies as if…

…they had cybernetic implants.

"Just like the things in the story." Shepherd whispered out loud, his soft eyes widening in surprise and horror. Whatever things the owners of the store were selling had to be the same kind of artifact that Mr. McKay's platoon had uncovered back when they'd fought the Turians in the First Contact War! All the symptoms were there for them to see as they slunk out of the hallway and followed after the customers, unnoticed due to how small and silent they were being. They passed by pillar after pillar, weaving their way through the hallway, casting nervous glances back and forth as the people within the basement of this sinister store began to speak with one another.

Well, perhaps "speak" wasn't the right word…and perhaps "people" wasn't either. Slightly glowing eyes…the cybernetic implants…faint, whispering murmurs of a language that was half hiss and half tongues pronouncing the unpronounceable…and when the customers stopped in front of a series of statues in a room at the far end of a hewn hallway, they moved the statues about as if they were plastic, and not hard marble and pearl, our young ragtag gang gaping in surprise.

Nobody said anything, save for further shared glances of confusion and slight alarm, hiding behind the pillars in the halls. These **things** were lifting three ton statues about and moving them in place for what appeared to be a kind of ritual, customers that had less cybernetic implants in them than the others placed within the center of a ring carved into the floor in the far-off room, all with their hands held high.

"Don't suppose any of you know what they're saying? Mr. McKay said the Turians spoke Latin…Lewis?" Noah wanted to know as Lewis shook his head back and forth, chewing on his lip.

"I've never heard that dialect before." Lewis muttered as the customers murmured and moaned in their strange language as the Fifth Street Reds crept into a nearby doorway, pushing it open and looking around at a large collection of assembled relics, all of whom had the sort of strange miasma to them that the customers of this unnatural store did. Some gleamed brightly with purple/black lines running through them, others pulsated like a beating heart freshly ripped from the ripcage of an unfortunate, casting faint blue light on their terrified faces.

"We've got to burn this place to the ground. RAZE it. These things are forming their own army." Shepherd finally decided, still whispering to the others as he slammed his fist into his palm, Noah noticing the door behind them was opening up, eyes bugging out. "And they've long stopped being human, that's for sure…they're all monsters."

"GAH!" Noah pointed at the cloaked figure that had lowered its hood and was staring at them, long-nailed hands reaching for them, glaring angrily before Lewis whipped his knife from his belt at the figure, striking it in the throat, cutting its attempt to roar out at them as Shepherd realized how to bring it down. He immediately dove at the thing's legs, bowling it over by slamming into them and rolling through, rolling right into the door and closing it as the customer hit the floor, Finch whipping out what HE kept in his belt, a vial…one of many…of acid.

Yes. Acid. And when you thought about it, this was absolutely sick. What depraved little brat threw acid at cops that chased after them, or threatened stool pigeons with "permanent liquid facial surgery"? Well, **Finch** would. It was a miracle that none of the vials ever shattered whenever they got into a scuffle, and a miracle still that the acid now worked, Finch pouring vial after vial over the thing's head as it struggled uselessly, trying to claw the acid off its head as the skull caved in with squelchy, wet THLUCKING noises, Shepherd keeping the door closed and locked from the inside as he put his ear to the door, waiting…

Nobody was coming. _Phew_. Whatever ritual they were doing was so loud he could hear it from here. Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned back to look at the inky black bloody mess that was the thing's head, cringing. He had been secretly hoping this thing wasn't human anymore…and without a doubt, he could see this being had stopped being human ages ago. It's bones weren't even white anymore. He turned to his friends, taking a deep breath, instantly regretting it because the caustic copper scent of acid filled the air.

"Like I said. We need to raze this place to the ground and SALT it so nothing grows back." Shepherd stonily remarked. "Or every person in the city is gonna end up looking like this…THING." He added, waving his hand at the sunken-in, almost totally melted head of the customer.

"I noticed support beams all through the hallways, and all of them are keeping the building from collapsing in on itself." Lewis said as he turned to Noah, who nodded firmly and turned to Finch. "Not to mention they're ancient. These things must be using the place as a temporary headquarters because they know it won't be safe for much longer."

"Think you got enough acid to melt through them?"

"It'll take another trip back to HQ, but hellz yeah, I can bring down the house. CRASH the roof and crush these spazzes." Finch said with a snort, holding his hand up and clenching it into a fist. "Man, I got enough back at my room to flood this whole place!"

"You've got WAAAAY too much free time on your hands, man." Shepherd grumbled, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

…

…

…

… "**_Da-da-da-daaa! Dum-dah-daaahhh!_**" Shepherd sang out, the A-Team theme ringing through the air as he adjusted the bandolier he was wearing at the moment. Shepherd was standing in front of an enormous mirror in his private room, and he, much like his room, was looking **GOOD**. All of his friends, himself included, had a bedroom of their own that was an offshoot from the main meeting hall where they'd just taken the call from Themis, and all of them spruced up their rooms in their own unique way. Lewis, though he didn't usually help so much as just BE there, liked to line his room with as much stolen electronic equipment he could get hold of, Finch had a little chemical lab by his bed stand, and Shepherd had a small library's worth of books by an enormous mirror, and countless old-fashioned military ware.

Shepherd had always been fascinated by the old, glorious tales of wartime heroism, partially because he viewed such acts as real examples of altruism and glory in the midst of hell, and partially because deep down inside his heart he knew that the only way he could ever get ahead in life was to get an education. And the easiest way to get that? Enrolling in the military.

It would be an excellent way to travel to the stars, to get away from this city, to make something big of himself. Yes, he knew it was a romantic idea to think that joining the army would solve his problems, but stranger things had happened…

And there was also the other dream he had. Sometimes when he rested in his bed, he would curl up slightly under the covers, pulling the blanket tightly to himself, brow furrowing as he imagined what his parents had been like. And as he drifted off to sleep, he would think about what his parents had been like, and he would see the kind of proud-cut military man he always imagined his father would have looked like, and the soft but firm smile of his mother. Sometimes, if he concentrated, he could faintly feel their hands on his shoulders, and almost hear their voices…

His parents had been ex-military. It was one of those things you just "**knew**" about your parents, a fact he quickly learned from the little he could remember of them from when he was just a babe. Shepherd was sure that becoming a military man would be continuing the family legacy.

And now he had his first assignment.

"Time to get ready, soldier. You're a-going to war. Going deep behind enemy territory." Shepherd said as he slicked black paint over his cheeks, placing a headband around his forehead and a many-pouched belt around his waist with a big silver buckle, nodding firmly at himself in the mirror. "Going full Commando on these things."

He hesitated a bit, thinking about the old "cannon" films he enjoyed watching. Deep down, he knew those movies were fiction, and he knew that most likely, he and his friends would end up really badly hurt by what they were about to do. The nervous expression on his face was giving him one message and one message only: _It's not too late to back out._

…but people's lives were at risk. And they had no idea how much time they had before those things were so numerous that nothing could stop them. In and out. Trash the basement's support beams, provide cover if needed, and run for your life. That simple.

_"No plan survives contact with the enemy."_

"MOST plans don't survive contact with the enemy." He thought out loud, shaking his head back and forth. "We'll improvise. The Tenth Street Reds are real good at that."

"Okay, Shepherd. It's time to saddle up." Noah announced, poking his head in as he hoisted the grenade belt he was bringing back onto the waist it kept unfortunately slipping off from. "You locked and loaded?"

"Sir, yes, SIR."

…

…

…

… _"Listen, Lewis. This man." Noah said, drawing on a large, discarded, thrown-in-a-dumpster-and-left-to-rot-away chalk board. "I saw him in the far back. Biggest out of all of them with a little necklace hanging out from his hood and a big old staff. Dollars to doughnuts this man right here is the boss. Can you sneak up behind him and backstab him after we throw the gas grenade into the central chamber?" He asked, scribbling a very stick figure-esque imitation of the head honcho._

_"I'm usually not that kind of thief, but I think I can do that, yes." Lewis admitted, slicing down into an apple with his hunting knife, biting into it with a wet CHA-CHUNK of his teeth as Noah kept writing on the chalkboard._

_"Then I'll set up the distraction…get them running…"_

The chamber deep down within the darkest recesses of the antique shop was dimly lit by black-burning torches as the cloaked and hooded customers chanted. The voices of the "evolved" beings that had lost their humanity were hissing, snarling whispers laced with dark venom as the leader slowly walked to the center of the room, staff held high as he spoke loudest out of all of them…all of them transfixed as his staff brightly glowed.

Tonight it began. Tonight they would swarm out from the city, planting the artifacts. What had happened on the planet Palaven to the Turian people had failed. But not this time. This time the will of-

SRRRZZSSSHHHHH!

There was a very loud hissing noise echoing through their ears, but this time it wasn't coming from any of their fanged mouths. All of them looked around, blue and glowing eyes bugging out in surprise as smoke filled the air and they coughed and spluttered, trying to regain their sense of direction, the leader feeling something stabbing into his back at the base of the spine, falling down, another stab hitting him harder, then another, then another…

Slowly but surely the smoke began to clear as the customers saw their leader lying dead on the ground, lifeblood slowly oozing out like black tar from his paling body, a form rushing off through a nearby hallway. Yet as devolved as these things were, even they knew that way was a dead end. They smiled horribly to each other, a smirk worthy of a barracuda spreading across their features as they raced down the hall, bolting as fast as they could, finally making their way towards the stupid little kid that was…

…slightly…flickering…in and out of existence. What in…?

That was when they realized they'd been tricked. A **hologram**!

_"And then what?"_

_"After they've been fooled into rushing off, I want you to take care of them with suppressing fire to keep them off our back, as Finch takes care of the pillars." Noah insisted to Shepherd as he shouldered a high-powered assault rifle, patting the grip with a small smile._

_"I'll take them down."_

_"We don't know how many there are. There could be others that we didn't get a chance to see. Just make it quick, then run for it, alright?"_

_"I understand. And Finch, remember to contact us on our communicators if we get into a SNAFU."_

_"What?"_

"The situation's normal and NOT all f—ked up so far." Finch spoke over the communicator as Shepherd blasted away at the enormous group of transfigured customers. "How are you all doing?"

"I've forced them back and killed most of them…keyword "MOST"! They're right behind me." Shepherd cried out, racing back down the hallway, the snarling roars of the customers ringing through the air as he slung his assault rifle back over his shoulder, taking off across the room that had been filled up with the gas as Finch attached another specialized grenade loaded up with acid to yet another pillar within the basement of the antiques store. He wiped his brow slightly, hearing a roaring noise filling the air…the sound of other customers coming towards them?

Finally he attached the last one and stood up as Shepherd raced past him, Finch following after as he trigged the detonation switch.

Loud, roaring booms filled the air, along with the sizzling hiss of acid spraying as pillar after pillar as blown through with powerful caustic force. The screeching, snarling cries of the transformed monsters filled the gang's ears as Noah helped Lewis, Finch and Shepherd into the main store area, the front door barricaded and locked up as they all stood around, panting and heaving, Shepherd resting his hands on his knees.

For a long time, the rumbling roar of the collapsing pillars filled the air as they all nervously waited, none of them speaking, hoping that the basement had completely collapsed in on itself…and as the minutes dragged on, it seemed that their plan had worked. Silence reigned. No more shaking of the shop. No snarling hisses. No cries of pain echoing up from the ruined and wrecked passageway down to the basement.

They were home free…and, well…there WAS a cash register and a lot of tchotchkes and antiques lying around, a stark difference from the last time they'd been inside.

They couldn't waste the opportunity. Finch took one of his extra vials of acid, pouring through the register and opening it up as Lewis and Noah began pocketing antiques, Shepherd just frowning in disapproval at this as he turned to look at the front door…noticing it was shaking.

"Huh?"

Then it let out a loud BANG as someone tried to kick it down. All of them instantly froze in place, mouths snapping open as they whipped their heads at each other, then let out a simultaneous yell, trying to stuff as much goodies as they could into the pockets of their shirts, jackets and pants as Shepherd nervously stepped away from the front door of the store, assault rifle at the ready only to realize it was currently jammed.

"Damn it! I KNEW I should have taken this thing in to get fixed!" Shepherd cried out furiously, tossing the thing to the side as Finch stuffed money from the cash register into his back pants pocket, looking around at the others as the kicking at the door got more and more intense, all of them panicking and sweating profusely.

And as the door finally was busted open, Finch did something that was, in the context of the moment, understandable, but in retrospect, **unbelievably ****dumb**.

His hand shot into his jacket…and launched a vial of acid at the door…

As Themis the Quarian stepped inside with a small platoon of armed guards, the vial shattering against his helmeted face, the visor bathed over in caustic greenish liquid.

For a brief moment all of time had frozen, everyone else in the Tenth Street Reds all letting out a simultaneous "_Noooo_", eyes widening as the vial struck Themis in the face. For a few moments absolutely nothing seemed to exist in that moment but the total, horrifying realization that they were so, totally, utterly screwed.

"_UAAAAUUUUGGGHHH!_" Themis howled in agony, screeching in his echoey voice as Shepherd lowered his head and held it in his hands, groaning deeply.

"Ohhhhh. **NOOOOOO**."

"Fucking…fucking…you little _BOSH'TET_! I'm-**GHUUAAAUUHHH**!" Themis was howling and screeching, clawing at his burned, sizzled face as a hissing noise filled the air and the guardsman all GAPED at the sight of their boss falling to his knees, absolute agony filling every syllable. After all, this had been the last thing even Themis of the Cadre had been expecting.

"I thought it was more **customers**." Finch lamely mumbled, gulping nervously, adam's apple rising up and down as the Tenth Street Reds immediately whipped their heads in his direction.

"OBVIOUSLY **FUCKING ****NOT**!" Noah screamed out as they BOLTED past the guards, Shepherd leaping over the spasming quarian on the ground, all four of them racing down the alleyway, fleeing for their lives as Noah tugged at his hair. "We are so fucked! We are SO FUCKED! He's going to END us!"

"We don't DARE go back to headquarters, he'll track us down and END us." Lewis reasoned as they continued to bolt down the street, panting and heaving, sweat burning into their bodies as Shepherd wiped some off his forehead.

"Mr. McKay. He can help us. Themis doesn't know we're familiar with him and the guy lives alone…oh God, I hope he'll help us." Shepherd whispered softly.

…

…

…

…well, luckily for them, they had a few hours to pack up as much as they could before they took off for Mr. McKay's home. And luckier still, he was happy to have them hide out in their home. One by one they all set up within the old man's house, Shepherd crashing in what had been Lucas's son's room once upon a time, Mr. McKay chuckling a bit as the kid sat down on yellow faded sheets.

"Acid right in the face, huh? Pretty stupid."

"Yeah. Preeeeetty stupid." Shepherd sighed as McKay sat down on the bed next to him, patting his shoulder, the wrinkles of his face creasing a bit as he chuckled lightly, shaking his head back and forth. "We're lucky we got away. He was just so **shocked**. Thank God for small mercies…thank God you're letting us stay here." He added, pulling the light blue pillow on the bed to his chest, squeezing it slightly.

"Listen, you cannot show your face out there." Lucas insisted. "I've got some old military contacts who can deliver me some disguises that you can use. And I can get it delivered without customs checking it out too deeply."

"Really?"

"It helps to be an old war dog." Mr. Lucas McKay laughed, whacking Shepherd on the back as Shepherd let out an "oof", smiling back at the old man and laughing a bit himself as Lucas ruffled the kid's hair with a cheery grin. "And speaking of old war dogs…how'd you like to hear some more about Shanxi? Where did I leave off?"

"Oh, you were talking about how the Turians had taken Jack and Nick prisoner, and Ben had been turned into a monster."

"Just like the ones you saw today." Lucas whispered quietly, his tone becoming subdued and his eyes glazing over in disturbed memory. "…I remember when we brought Ben back to the camp. The one named Saren examined him, looking…frightened…yet his brother Desolas was fascinated. He wanted to take a closer look at him…and a closer look at Jack as well, who also appeared to have been affected by the relic."

"What happened to him? Did his body gain synthetic parts?"

"No…no, he changed, yes…but that was a long time after. Because whilst Ben and Jack were taken away, Nick and I were being taken prisoner with the rest of our platoon, and all of us feared for our lives…after all, the one we knew as Saren Arterius wasn't known for mercy."

"Did he…kill any of you?"

"Far from it. He actually released us."

"Wait, WHAT? Why?"

"Well…" Lucas chuckled a bit, steepling his slightly gnarled hands as he rubbed them together, licking his dry lips. "I'll begin how it always begins in good stories. It was a dark and stormy night…"


	3. The Centurion and the Soldier

**CHAPTER THREE: **

**The Centurion and the Soldier**

All of the crew glanced about at each other, dark clouds rolling swiftly in like a host of wild horses across the open sky. The crack of lightning made some of them flinch, burning red blazing briefly across the darkening skies above as the white-scaled Turian glanced up, scaley lips pursing slightly before turning back to his own men, giving them a nod as they hurried the humans they were guarding along the forest path. "Get a move on!" He snapped out. "I've no idea what the weather on this mudball is like and I am in no mood to learn."

"You didn't even bother to research this planet? Isn't it in your PURVIEW?" Captain Lucas asked as the young man tanding next to him looked back at Saren, who gave Lucas a glare that seemed to say "Please, keep talking, see how many of your limbs you get to keep", though he finally grumbled out an explanation as tiny droplets of water began to plop down atop all their heads.

"We "technically" command the region due to it being given to us by the Citadel Council, but it isn't like we pay much attention to it. It's not got resources we care much for, we have no one LIVING on it, the concern is for the Mass Relay nearby, which we can patrol and keep an eye on without touching down on this spirit-forsaken ROCK." Saren murmured as he flinched, a drop of rain falling flat on his "nose", making him shake his head rapidly back and forth as if he was a dog.

"In retrospect, we should have researched it." Nihlus admitted as the brown-skinned Turian walked near Lucas and a brown-skinned human who looked over at Nihlus. "Really, I thought Mr. Arterius's brother Saren would. But now he's got his hands full taking a look at your friend, Mr. Harper."

"Mr. Harper's an…associate of ours. He's not a true soldier. He's a brawler." The dark-skinned man insisted. "No _discipline_."

"Discipline is important." Nihlus agreed with a firm nod.

"So is not getting caught in a storm." Saren added.

"Look on the bright side, Mr. Arterius. This'll make a great story to tell your kids." The young man, Nick, said with a shrug of his handcuffed arms as he addressed Saren.

"Oh, yes, I'm sure in RETROSPECT it will, just as in **retrospect** my own grandfather's tales of how he and his people had such GRAND tales of The Unification War that ripped my species apart. It's all so very majestic and sounds so **wonderful** through the rosy lens of looking back." Saren mumbled, his voice low and cold.

The kid blinked in surprise. "Unifica-lemme guess. Civil War."

"Quite." Saren said as all the Turian guards around them nodded, continuing the trek along the forest path as the hum of falling rain began to fill all their ears, plinking down atop their heads. "When we found the Mass Relays, we began setting up colonies. I suppose we should count ourselves lucky that we didn't have the Council attacking us. No, instead, we fought with ourselves over whom should reign over our home planet, Palaven."

"What was the problem? Was it a "no taxation without representation" thing?" Nick asked, Saren giving him a look, one invisible eyebrow raised over his almost skull-like, insectoid/lizard face.

"Why do you care?"

"I'm a history buff." The human said with another shrug.

"Besides! Could be a while before we reach your base." The dark-skinned human spoke up. "And there ain't nothing that passes the time better than the little stories you tell your men."

"Or the little **jokes** in YOUR case, Anderson. I'd ask you to tell the one about the peanuts, but I don't think Turians have peanuts on their planet." Lucas admitted as the teenager, Anderson, nodded his head up and down.

"Speaking of BASES, that base used to be one of OURS until you forced us out by throwing FIRE into the windows. Lots…and **lots**…of fire." Lucas mumbled as Nick gave him a sympathetic nod, Saren rolling his eyes before sighing slightly.

"It was not about taxation, monkey. All of the colonies were run by local chieftains, who felt they could do an infinitely wiser job at handling their people than our central government, the herarchy. And because of this, extremes rose up frequently..." Saren informed the humans, the Turian's voice slightly changing, becoming pensive and subdued as his eyes seemed to mist in memory as he remembered what his grandfather had told him so many moons ago. "It wasn't long before we stopped recognizing each other as Turians and started identifying each other as Thracians, or Galatanian men, or proud people of the Magna colony, and anyone who came too close and wasn't a definite friend would surely die. I suppose if the Citadel hadn't shown up to ask for ALL our help, the hostilities might have risen again."

"Why did they need you?"

"To put down Krogan rebellions." Nihlus said, looking proud, grinning a bit before his face fell at the next word from Lucas's mouth.

"…_Kermit_?"

_**"Waa-waa-waaaaa."**_ Nick sang out with a big, goofy grin on his face.

"KROGAN." Saren said, rolling his eyes again, waving a dismissive clawed hand in the air as he did so. "I know you have ears. Use them!"

"So is that why you didn't bother to talk to us, then?" Nick wanted to know. "Because war is all your people know? Because even when you're not fighting other races you're fighting each other and it's just easier to shoot first, ask questions later?"

"Every race has that "break in" period, monkey." Saren muttered darkly. "A time when they need to be reminded not to fool around with the other toys in the sandbox, because other children need to use them."

"Do the reminders have to involve **guns**?" Anderson snorted.

"You don't belong in this. Not one bit." Saren realized with a slight chuckle. "Look at you. Look at your HANDS." He said, grabbing Nick's hands and holding them up as best he could, the gloves now fully removed. He poked them with a claw, chuckling. "Soft skin…barely worn…they even smell quite…PLEASANT." He admitted. "You've never known true war."

Nick rolled HIS eyes as the crack of lightning ripped through the skies high above them…though, this time, not quite as high as it had before. Now the group of prisoners and the mass of guards keeping them in line had reached the end of the forest path and were walking across a long stretch of high grass, the prisoners looking about at each other, everyone immediately getting ideas of escape. After all, many of them had seen "Planet of the Apes" in Captain Lucas's movie nights when he'd show them the films he'd grown up on. These guards didn't have horses…didn't know the area quite as well as the men did…

If they could just find some kind of distraction-

And then, like a sign from God…or perhaps, in retrospect, the **Devil**, it happened. A loud SHAKKA-THOOM tore through the air and the hot, humid stench of something being FRIED filled their nostrils as they turned to see red lightning striking at the faint brownish/orange grass, igniting it as everyone immediately gaped…and then took off running like HELL in the opposite direction.

In an instant, everything was mass panic. Screams, shouts and screeches filled the air almost as loudly as the burning-hot blaze that was sweeping through the tall grass like a snake shooting after its prey, winding its way towards the scattering humans and Turians. Whilst Captain Lucas and several of the man tore off for the north, Nick raced alongside Saren Arterius as they made their way towards a large rock to the west, Nick giving the handcuffs something of a practice yank to determine their strength.

KRRRKKUUCCH! Not that strong. He could see visible crack marks. Guess this was what happened when you bought secondhand off the intergalactic market so you could spend your military budget on bigger guns. The roaring of the flames tore into his eardrums, he could faintly feel it, it was as if it wanted to wrap its arms around him and throttle him in absolute heat, he could almost feel it curling its white claws over his shoulder as he finally dove for a small cave entrance that opened up at the base of the rock he and Saren were heading towards.

For a moment, there was a brief fear in Saren Arterius's heart. A sad moment when he believed "This was how I die…not in battle, not fighting for a cause, but running like a coward from a brushfire". It wouldn't have made for much of a good story, that was for sure…well, unless they survived.

And by the hand of Providence, that was what happened. They shot inside, the flames falling behind them, unable to progress as swiftly as it could, temporarily halted by the rocky texture before it whilst the Turian and the human slunk along wet walls of an unfamiliar cave, Nick tugging at the handcuffs again before Saren just shot them on the spot, the handcuffs snapping apart as he glared intently at Nick, who blinked in surprise.

"Gee, thanks, I-" The human began before Saren raised the pistol up.

"My men will regain their bearings and capture every human they can get their hands on." The Turian whispered out, eyes aglitter. "And I intend to keep a close eye on you. I've got my orders. And I'm expected to **follow 'em**!"

"Look…" Nick began, holding his hands up in the air as Saren's blue eyes stared firmly into the human's hazel green. "I want to get you out of this alive, alright? I'm not some kind of jerk." He insisted sincerely to the Turian, who continued to keep the pistol trained on him.

"Whatever negotiations you are attempting to enter into, let me make this clear. I'M the one with the position of power. If you want to live through this without me taking any chunks off you, you'll answer all the questions I have." Saren said, motioning for Nick to move in front of him with a wave of his pistol, a Model X "Brawler" pistol of the "Armax" line, which provided all the weaponry for the Turian military.

Nick flinched, not so much at the "being threatened with a gun" thing, but at the fact that even though he couldn't see Saren behind him, he could feel the whitish/grey turian's eyes staring into him, almost drilling a hole into his head worse than any bullet ever could. As they continued down the hallway, Nick too notice of the interior of the crumbling, decaying place. It was hard to tell what purpose it might have originally served, but the walls were specially carved out, clearly not totally natural. They'd been refined thousands upon thousands of years ago, little traces of curvature markings left to indicate where people had lain out grooves.

As they continued to move down the hall, Nick heard Saren take a deep breath, hesitating before speaking. "Now, inform me…how did you survive our last encounter? Or perhaps I should say our FIRST and what should have BEEN your last?"

"You mean when I met you and your brother and Mr. Nihlus in the forest, sir?" Nick asked, speaking with a surprising amount of politeness that made Saren blink in surprise, hesitating again before he recomposed himself.

"Yes. I would very much like an explanation."

"I'd very much like you to at least stop calling me "monkey", Mr. Arterius. You don't see me calling you a "skull-face"."

"…fine…child." The turian said with a sort of chiding chuckle. "Now tell me. How did you survive?"

"My talents are in keeping myself alive…but even that is secondary to helping other people survive. Not in killing them. Would have been a medic if I wasn't so good with a gun." Nick admitted, looking down at the ground. "…if you can't even be honest with yourself, then how can you expect to be honest to others?" He murmured out, his voice almost a whisper.

"But how did you SURVIVE?"

"If I told you flat out, you honestly wouldn't believe me." Nick said. "…I have an…ABILITY…a special talent that helps me survive. Something that allows me to keep going even when I appear utterly broken. Are you willing to leave it at that?"

Saren was quiet for a while…in fact, for quite some time, his eyes softly glittering, a thoughtful look flickering across his face as he slightly tilted his head to look the young human over before at least speaking. "Tell you what, human. I have a sneaking suspicion you will reveal your ability to me eventually. After all, we might not be able to find a way out so quickly, and, well, you didn't bring any food with you, did you?"

"You're not suggesting what I THINK you're suggesting, are you?" Nick gaped in surprise. "I mean…**GEEZ**!" He groaned out, his own stomach suddenly growling as he held his hands over his belly.

"What was that?" Saren inquired, his voice sweetness and light as Nick stiffened a bit, a DRIP-DRIP-DRIP noise echoing through the air.

"N-nothing! Nothing really important! I'm fine! Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" Nick quickly remarked, albeit with a hint of hysteria.

"You haven't eaten in quite some time, have you?" Saren mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as Nick turned around, seeing the Turian chortling a bit with amusement. "…well isn't **this** interesting! Trapped in a series of caves with no way out, no animals around…and the only source of food is in my belt pouch. So I suppose the question is…how long can you last before you're dancing for a bit of meat?"

"I can take a little…hunger pains." Nick murmured, turning back to glare balefully at Saren, whose face was lit up in something of a ghost of a smile. "We space marines, we get trained to go for DAYS without food!"

"My boy, Turians can go for weeks without food." Saren dismissively chuckled, shaking his head back and forth. And you're obviously hungrier than I am. So…I have the feeling that unless you want to resort to cannibalizing your own **body**, then you'll directly answer-"

Nick turned away from him. "There are things more important in this world than a man's life. I'm not going to BEG you for something you should be willing to give."

He felt a TUG on his shoulder, being yanked back, his armored form now in Saren's grip, the turian whispering, soft and hissing in his ear. "_You do not __**WISH**__ to know what I am willing to give_." Saren hissed out, claws carefully, slooooowly tracing along Nick's exposed neck before he shoved the kid forward. "Now keep walking…CHILD."

…

…

…

…_he sat across from me in the trench, waiting for the next volley to soar out at him, nervously gritting his teeth, hands clenched tightly around the gun. Filthy and crosslegged, my fellow comrade sat, his companions nearby retreating back and forth between positions in the trenches as the KRAKKA-KRAKKA-KRAK of heavy rifle fire filled the air. Once he looked up at me and I saw murderous intent pulsing from his body, a need to kill something and someone. And to kill them soon._

_These poor souls were the extreme of ruin, all companions in misery, a foul, monstrous chorus of hideous loss, some who were without limbs, some whom were without eyes, some whom had lost their minds. Occasionally somebody would burst out into songs and we'd hum or sing along in a sad, quiet attempt to pass the time, the horrors of yesterday fading from our minds for a few brief minutes, which would soon become even longer as a new feeling took root._

_Indeed, as time went on, I came to realize something. You see, the strange thing was that in spite of the appalling, abysmal situation, all of us were becoming totally self-sufficient. I feel even to this day that offers of help would have been proudly, even humorously declined. It was my comrades that offered ME something. They extended a hand to me that held reality; a kind of substantiality that I myself lacked. They were what war was all about: a normal, everyday cheeriness slowly but surely triumphing over grimness and bitter cynicism. An endless stream of banter and chatter would rise from our mouths in between the bombings and the whiz of bullets, and everything would seem to be all right in that, in comparison, brief moment in time._

_But then gunfire explodes and dozens of people are scurrying away, screams tearing through the air like hot knives through flesh, the smell of blood is thick and I'm sure somebody's head has been obliterated and its remains are LYING IN MY LAP-_

Saren winced. He wished he didn't have to keep thinking back to those old tales from his grandfather as he sat across from the human, Nick keeping his hands in his lap, looking quietly at Saren, eyes slightly sunken in with dark accusation as his belly growled anew. Saren couldn't bring himself to directly look the young human in the eye, instead looking down at the small cross necklace hanging around his neck.

"Might I ask what that is?"

"It's a religious symbol. Do Turians have religion? Do you worship many gods? Make sacrifices in temples or something?" Nick inquired.

"We believe in spirits. Souls. They embody the best our people can display, or a city can have a spirit filled with progress and power, or how a lake can have a spirit of its own which reflects tranquility and peace. They are constant inspiration." Saren admitted as he held up a hand, looking at some far-off thing as his eyes seemed to mist with memory. "There was a time when our race believed Titans strode the planet Palaven where we come from. But when we found out the existence of other species, we sealed our greatest temple away. We did not need legends to inspire us forth. We had…all of THAT." He said, making a gesture towards the stars above.

"So…what kind of spirit does **this** place inspire?" Nick asked.

Saren would have rebuked him, but…everything about the young human was practically screaming honesty. Nothing he said had the slightest ring of falsehood to it. He was so naïve and ignorant that he genuinely wished to know.

"…this place speaks of…" Saren hesitated, his tone becoming thoughtful, and yet also…mournful. "Of sadness. It's a place where dreams went to rot. People laid down and died in here, quietly passing, losing all hope. Despair and regret infest this place."

"It does seem like whomever made this tunnel didn't really get a chance to get off the planet." Nick admitted.

"Why are your people still here?" Saren asked of the human, tilting his head slightly to the side, the air becoming slightly thicker as Nick bit his lip, looking off to the side before slowly turning back to Saren. "The battles, the explosions, the bombings, the filth, the chaos, the anarchy. Your people are running scared. If there's a single person from your planet not carrying a gun on this one, they DESERVE to be shot. So why didn't you just take off and leave when we started shooting at you?"

"Because we looked to the stars. And we took inspiration. And we want to be free to keep looking, the same as you were." Nick said, folding his arms across his chest, wincing as his stomach rumbled again and he fell on his side, letting out a groan. "_Ouuuggghhrrggghhh_."

"You're certain you don't want a bite?" Saren asked quietly, holding up a small, bluish ball-like thing and biting into it, chewing the odd fruit he now had in his claws which he'd taken from his leftmost belt pouch.

"I…shouldn't…have to beg you…" Nick growled back. "A man's…got his…pride!"

"Yes. But he won't have his STOMACH for much longer by the looks of it." Saren admitted, shaking his head back and forth before the ground around them began to rumble and they turned, seeing something making its way towards them from the far end of the natural tunnelway, Nick's eyes widening as it let out a harsh, hissing snarl of a roar. "Oh. OH. Well. Now I believe I know why the planet's previous inhabitants did not survive whatever befell the planet!"

"What in-"

"**Run**, you fool!" Saren screamed at him, racing in the opposite direction, Nick facing down the thing that was slimily racing towards them, growling, blue eyes on large stalks glaring intensely at its new prey, a stretchy, mandibled maw spreading wide, a grubby worm-like body barreling at him. The thing looked like a giant rubbery sausage with a longue tongue lashing at the air before it, only a few yards from Nick, Saren quite some distance away.

"Aw, dang!" Nick murmured.

Saren heard a squelchy, gulping sound, cringing as he continued desperately to race down the tunnelway, panting and heaving desperately, his chest burning as he tripped, his belt ripping off as he scrambled back to his taloned feet, surging again down the tunnelway, the monstrous worm continuing to race after him. It was a "Thresher Maw", a space worm with a stomach bigger than a tank and an appetite to match, its stench filling Saren's nostrils like a wet pile of noodles left to slowly wear away in the rain. Saren desperately heaved himself further and further down the passageway, his belt being slurped up into the beast which was quickly catching up.

He whipped his body around, the white pupils of his eyes becoming slits as he fired and fired at the thing in a frenzy, his gun turning hot and heavy in his clawed hand as it overloaded in his desperation to get the thing to just reel back, ANYTHING to give him just the tiniest edge in escaping, yet the Thresher Maw came closer…closer. Nothing was going to stop this hulking brute.

So this was it, the Turian mused. This was how he died. How fitting that he'd denied the child food only to become food himself. The universe truly did have a twisted sense of humor, Saren Arterius mused softly inside his head as he tripped anew, falling to his side, his arm twisting as he heard something break, a small KRAKCCKK noise filling the air as he flinched, gasping at the Thresher Maw as it dove at him…

Only for the thing to halt in place, something muffled echoing out from the inside of the beast as it quivered…

And then the child BURST from the thing's side, making it howl and screech and spasm, lashing about in the tunnelway in a static-like roar of pain, finally flopping to the ground as the kid dusted himself off, black and blue guts and blood dribbling off his body like chunky spagetthi sauce as he looked over at the giant worm's corpse. "You should have known: I contain pieces which are dangerous if swallowed!" He laughed, holding up his armored fist, sighing as he saw the thing's eyes were now pale and faded, the body now completely still. "Aw, dang. What's the point of being witty if the thing's too stupid and too DEAD to appreciate-"

He then turned to his right, taking notice of Saren, smiling a bit as he put his hands on his hips. "Aw, well, **you** work!"

"…you…LIVED." Saren murmured out as the kid held up Saren's belt.

"So, since I saved your life…mind if I help myself to some of your food now? Are we cool?" The human youngling inquired, tilting his head to the side as a glob of thresher maw intestine slid off to the ground below, a great gooey glob of greasy, grimy thresher guts.

"…according to Turian rules of engagement, I'm not to give any quarter to my prisoner until I reach-" Saren began, the kid GAPING at him for a brief moment before the air seemed to tense up, the kid tossing the belt at Saren, the thing slapping him across the face as the kid GROWLED with a furious glint shining in his eyes.

"How can you play games like this?" Nick directly asked, suddenly standing up and shooting forward, Saren yanking the pistol he had back up in the human's face, putting it against the human's skull. "Where's your sense of shame? Where's your sense of **compassion**? I saved your **LIFE**!"

Saren's face turned solemn as he carefully, slowly, shoved Nick back to where he was with the tip of his pistol, his words chosen with precision as he spoke quietly and thoughtfully. "My race is centered around one thought, my boy. That you have to work and earn your worth in the meritocracy that our species has as its ruling body. Our race is predicated on nobility of spirit being equivalent to skill in battle. Whatever mercy or compassion we have to offer must only be offered to those who have proven deserving of it, and you didn't do what you did for just my sake. You did it for yours as well."

"You're RATIONALIZING." The kid snapped back.

"I am simply sticking firmly to the rules of engagement. Until we return to my base, I cannot give you any quarter. imply how our race does things. Do you tell animals who prey on weaker animals that they're "cruel" or "evil" for doing the only thing they know how to do?" Saren asked, holding his pistol up, looking it over with a thoughtful expression. It would be so temping, but…the child appeared to have something to say.

"A dumb animal is doing what instinct tells it to do. Because it's a dumb ANIMAL." Nick said bluntly. "You're a sentient being with free will and can choose what he wants to do with his lie. You're not driven by instinct, and considering your species has been aware of other sentient races for DECADES now, you should know that such cruel treatment of other sentient beings is morally wrong. You're not treating me like this because you think of me as a weaker person. You don't even think of me as a person at all. You're objectifying me. That's how people get away with cruelty: they view others as…THINGS. Things to be tortured. Things to be insulted and denigrated. Things to be stomped into the mud so they can never resist you. _And I can't see that as anything but __**SADISTIC**__."_

Saren was quiet for a moment, invisible eyebrows slightly raised up, looking surprisingly intrigued by the human's words as he slowly put the pistol down into its holster and motioned with a clawed hand. "We should keep moving, should we not?"

Nick "harrumphed"…

…but he didn't disagree.

…

…

…

…luckily, it wasn't long before they DID reach the base, finally coming out of the tunnelway from a natural exit, only a few hundred yards from Saren's headquarters, where his troops were stationed. Nihlus, along with Anderson, had taken up temporary command, and saluted his superior officer and good friend as Saren led Nick inside the base, the other Turians all saluting as well as Nick glanced around the large military facility, a shining steely blue area with light gray overtones and odd banners flying in the wind around the base.

He was led through a long courtyard past several dozen other human prisoners towards Saren's personal quarters, Saren putting a hand against a DNA scanner as a set of glassy double doors slid open, letting him, Nihlus and the kid inside. Nick tossed Anderson a "hold hard, we'll get out of this" look for a brief moment before glancing about Saren's well-designed private quarters.

All things considered, Saren Arterius was living the high life. The place was air-conditioned, a nice vent sticking out of the nearby wall close to an enormous map of the area that stretched out for 100 miles, with various tacks marking important places of note, including newly established bases and rendezvous points, with large, ornate chests lying about that had a pearly glint to them. The floors were carpeted and smelled almost like incense, with a gentle fan blowing air towards his nearby bed, an enormous dark blue comforter draped over a silvery king-size bed. But most noticeable was a large journal on a nearby desk that was open, with dark silvery letters in careful cursive on every line, shining softly in the gentle light bathing off of every light fixture on every one of the walls in the circular quarters.

Besides…he had a mini-bar.

"All of the high officers get one of these." Saren said, opening it up and pulling out a small bottle of crystalline liquid and some deep red nuts of some variety, putting them on a nearby table and sitting down on his bed, picking up the journal and taking a pen from inside of the desk, writing into it as he glanced up at the human. "…go ahead."

The kid blinked. "…wait. What?"

"Eat. Drink. Be merry." Saren remarked. "As I said…"

Nick immediately plopped down in his seat, popping some of the nuts into his mouth and slurping down a mouthful of the liquid. Slightly tart….almost like "Crystal Pepsi". Bit of a kick, but not bad, not bad at-

A few minutes later he was vomiting into a nearby wastebasket, Saren cringing as Nihlus patted the kid on the back, cramps ripping through the kid's stomach. "GOOOOGGGGHH! **Gaauuuggghhaaackkkk**! G-guess…we c-can't…can't e-eat Turian f-f-food…I s-s-suppo-OOOOHHHHH!"

He continued emptying his stomach's contents, Saren frowning a bit as he shook his head back and forth. "I was right. The universe has a cruel sense of humor."

"And the universe…does not want me dead." The kid groaned out, Nihlus softly wiping the kid's mouth with a towel, a sympathetic look in the Turian's dark eyes. "It might not want me HAPPY…but it doesn't want me dea-**AAAUUGGGHHHKKKK**!"


	4. War and Peace

**CHAPTER FOUR: **

**War and Peace**

"So…Saren let you go because your cousin saved his life, is that it?" Shepherd asked as he sat upon his new bed, rocking slightly back and forth, hands clasped as he continued to listen to Mr. McKay's story.

"Yes. After finding us something we COULD eat and drink, we were interrogated a bit about our culture, but then he sent us back to our platoon. He kept insisting that what Nick had done to save him was miraculous, he felt he owed him a great debt. But he was still Turian enough to remind us that we were at war until the Council sent diplomats to work out some kind of arrangement. Luckily, they did. And it wasn't long before a peace WAS brokered." Lucas admitted as he took a deep sip of some water, smacking his lips a bit, his throat parched as he glanced around the room. "Ahhh. It was one of the most trying periods of my life. A tenseness hung around us like a cloud of secondhand smoke in those days after our release. Neither side made a move. And all our fellow soldiers could do was ask us questions about the Turians."

"I bet they had a lot to ask." Shepherd admitted. "What, did they want to know how they slept, what they drank, why we couldn't eat their food?"

"No, it was more along the lines of "Why do they hate all humans"? "Why do they want to throw all humans into the sea"? "Why can't they leave us in peace"? Although one of them did manage to finally ask about measurements."

"…oh!" Shepherd said, eyes widening when he realized what Lucas was getting at. "So what did you say?"

"Nick COULDN'T say because he refused to take a shower. He insisted he had "seen enough movies to know how it goes down, I'm not stepping in the shower". And I decided that this was one of those things I didn't want to risk either. We started to smell pretty bad. I suppose that's ANOTHER reason they released us. We were only there for a few days, but…still…HOO." He waved his hand before his nose and scrunched it slightly up. "By the time we got back to camp, the flies that had been circling around us had dropped dead."

"SHEP!"

Shepherd turned his head in surprise, blinking slightly greyish eyes as Lewis stormed into the room, panting and heaving as he held up a small, tube-shaped thing and waved it in the air. "These are attached to every street corner outside!" He managed to get out, panting and heaving as he held his chest with one hand, the other holding the tube high, Shepherd taking it from him and unfolding it's contents, an electronic poster that displayed a simple message: Mr. Themis wished to conduct a "town hall" meeting for his little borough. Everybody should come post haste, be they from Tenth or Fifth Street or Twenty-Forth and Main.

"I think he might be seriously pissed at us." Lewis mumbled out.

"Ya _think_?" Shepherd said with a sarcastic bite to his tone, shaking his head back and forth. "We clearly can't go. At least, not like we are now. We'll need disguises if we want to find out what this is about. And frankly, I don't think we can miss this. We need to know what he's up to. If he's so mad he's willing to publically VENT about it, then…"

"When one gets angry, one gets SLOPPY." Mr. McKay admitted with a firm nod. "So, you'll need hologram inducers?"

"You have hologram inducers?"

"My boy…" McKay tapped the side of his head. "It pays to have friends in high places."

…

…

…

…the town hall was PACKED that morning, everybody milling about, speaking in slightly hushed tones about what Cadre's most infamous member had to say. What security breach had occurred? Was it a terrorist act? Was it a leaking of some disease to the populace? What was going on? Hundreds milled about inside and out of the town hall, Shepherd keeping his head low as he moved with Noah, Lewis and Finch onto the red rugged floor of the town hall, past the well-cut grass outside…in fact, the town hall was one of the few places in the city WITH actual, real grass, just like it was one of the few places with memorabilia from before the Mass Effects had been found, like the old podium that had been in the FIRST town hall, or the portraits of old mayors that now hung on the pearly walls…

And upon the stage, Themis paced back and forth, his masked face even more covered up by an enormous HOOD that obscured his visage utterly. He was shrouded in dark clothing, his arms over his chest, folded furiously, every single limb on his body tense and taut, as if barely suppressing rage. Worse still, he was muttering baleful things in a foul, soft voice that were just barely audible, and almost incomprehensible, though it was clear, without a doubt, that he…was…FURIOUS.

At long last, he stopped, taking a deep, deliberate breath as he slowly turned around to face the crowd, the rest of the Cadre standing off to the side of him with a large amount of guards as the human representative cleared his throat, holding a gloved hand up high. "In the words of old…hear ye, hear ye." He remarked with a wry smile, blond hair falling about his face "Themis has something he wishes to inform you of."

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" Finch whispered out, the rest of the gang now radically different in appearance due to the hologram inducers they were wearing, said inducers disguised as belt buckles. Their skin color had changed to resemble young African American youths with slightly frizzled clothes…a suggestion of Noah. Shepherd could guess why. At least he didn't have any of their disguises include cornrows or gold teeth.

"Some of you might be aware…that I've been missing for a few days." Themis started out, his voice saccharine sweet, yet with a foul, cold edge to it as he cracked his knuckles and gripped the podium before the assembled crowd. "Well." He laughed out, raising a hand up and pulling the hood away with a swift gesture. "That's because some people attacked me and my men and did **THIS** TO ME!" He roared out, pointing at his masked face.

Or rather, his BARELY masked face. The mask had been eaten through, and looked like inverted glass that had somehow FUSED onto half of his skull, for now Themis appeared to be a horrific mockery of the Quarian he'd once been. His voice was now corrupted, an odd metallic, biting ring to it, deep and foul like the almost eaten-away eye socket that was gazing out at the people before him, his mouth muscles exposed and even his teeth appeared to be eaten away. Normally Quarians had soft, faintly indigo skin that had a slightly dazzling glow to them, from what Shepherd had read of those that had SEEN Quarians without their masks. But the exposed skin beneath the fused mask was now a dark, bluish/purple, and veins could be seen throbbing freely as Themis gripped the podium again, people actually SCREAMING in horror and disgust, a few vomits ringing through the air.

"My LORD, he looks like if Leatherface had a kid with Emperor Palpatine!" Lewis gaped out as whispers and cries of terror filled the town hall, one of the Cadres whistling sharply with a whistle he had right around his neck, the Turian lowering it as he gestured at Themis, who waved his hand for silence. One person was actually laughing. Themis gave him a baleful look, and he shut up immediately as Finch immediately shrank, slightly hiding behind Noah.

"Now listen. I know EXACTLY what these miscreants look like." Themis went on, his eyes narrowing behind his mask. "Here's the thing. I only desire…ONE of them. Just one." He murmured, holding up an electronic poster of Filch, the youth gripping Noah's arm like hawk, terror ripping through his tendons. "And I will give 10,000 dollars to anybody who brings this would-be murdering filth's body in. 20,000 if he's ALIVE."

"Twenty…thousand?" Noah mumbled out as tiny little dollar signs popped up in his eye, he, Lewis and Shepherd looking to Filch, who immediately gaped at them in surprise.

"_Really_?!"

"If you've even word as to where he is, I'll give 100 dollars in tips should you know of his location or of information that could lead to his capture."

IMMEDIATELY hands shot up, people bouncing up and down, hands waving back and forth as cries of "I know where he is" and "Ooh, I know, I know" filled the hall, Themis holding his hands up for quiet once more as he waved a digit in the air. "To determine the truthfulness of such tips, you shall undergo a polygraph test. My associates will administer these tests at the security office on Tenth and Main."

"10,000…" Lewis murmured.

"20,000 if he's alive!" Noah added.

"Woah! Woah! No! Not here, let's talk about this back at home, alright?" Filch said quickly, shaking his head back and forth, arms held up before the rest of the group as they thoughtfully looked Filch over, heading out of the town hall and making their way back to their temporary headquarters in Mr. McKay's lodging as Filch sat down in a single chair in the living room, the others standing to the side and speaking in hushed tones. "HELLO!? Guys!?"

"20,000. That means he HAS 20,000. Wow. I mean…" Noah mumbled.

"That IS a lot of money." Shepherd added as he rubbed his chin, chewing slightly on his lip.

"HEY! You were all with me, remember?!" Filch yelled out, shaking his head back and forth.

"What if we KILLED him, then we…um…no, that wouldn't work." Noah said as he paced around on a small carpet, scratching his head. "Then they wouldn't know where to send the money."

"**DUDE!**" Filch screamed. "Gee, THANKS, guys. You're such great friends!"

"Dude. It's TWENTY THOUSAND BUCKS." Lewis said, rubbing his forehead as he slightly pursed his lips. "I mean…20,000. It's a freakin' lot of money."

"…yeaaaaah." Filch sighed as he held his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth. "But c'mon, think about it! There's no good way you can do this!"

"He's right. We can't trust Themis as far as we can throw him. And Filch IS our friend." Shepherd finally decided, folding his arms across his chest, shaking his head a bit. "And we're talking about his kidnapping and murder right in FRONT of him!"

"Still…20,000 dollars…" Noah said wistfully before Filch tossed his shoe at Noah, the sneaker bouncing off his head. "OW! The **hell!?"**

"Look, the only reason he's doing this is to get THIS reaction from you idiots! He WANTS us to turn against each other, WANTS the city to trip over its own shoelaces to get to me! He just wants to lure you out of hiding!" Filch insisted as he stood up from the chair, Noah rubbing his head and frowning.

"Dammit…I hate it when you make sense." Noah decided at last. "But he probably wouldn't pay us. And even if he did, he'd just have his men go after us immediately after, wouldn't he?"

"But there IS money to be made." Shepherd realized, snapping his fingers as a glint entered his eye and he ushered everybody over to the nearest table in the room, putting down a map onto the table and pointing down at the spot where the security center was located on Tenth and Main. "Look. WE know we can't trust Themis. Nobody else does. And we can't just break into the security center and get the money they're offering. Best case scenario: we break into the security center and get into a fight over the box of money they have at the center, which, of course, will be heavily guarded AND under camera surveillance."

"I sense a "but" coming. Please tell me there is a "but" coming. I _need_ to hear these words." Filch begged, hands clasped together as he held them in the air.

"The people GIVING the money will be protected…but the people coming in for tips and being **GIVEN** the money?"

"_Yesssssss_…" Noah said as he began to rub his hands together, chuckling darkly. "THEY'RE not guarded. We'll just jump everyone who comes out with money and take it from them!"

…

…

…

… "So his name is Filch." The first tipster remarked to the Turian clerk that Themis had brought in to the deep blue-walled security center, human guards flanking him on all sides, circular cameras hovering around the inside of the center. There was a considerable mass of people within the center all speaking in hushed tones to each other about the five people that had been sent away already, since they'd failed the polygraph test, indicating they couldn't be trusted.

"This guy's name is MUD." Noah promised as Filch readied a vibro-blade, set on the "Heavy Stun" setting as they held a listening device to the wall of the security center via the alley they were within. "And you are so, totally, absolutely dead." He added as they finally got HOLD of him, Filch putting the knife to the man's throat as he gulped nervously.

"Woah, woah, I draw the line at KILLING people." Shepherd insisted firmly, grabbing hold of Filch's hand and gripping it harshly, slowly lowering it away from the man's throat.

"Alright, fine. But everything else is up for grabs, alright? These jerks were willing to let Filch get hung up by his toes and used as target practice." Noah insisted as Shepherd nodded, drawing his fist back.

THWACK!

"Yeah, he hangs out late Thursdays at the "Robot Unicorn" tavern, I've seen him hitting on this barmaid, I've got her number, you can call her if you'd like…"

"Time for me to do a different kind of hitting!" Filch promised the man as they readied a frying pan that Lewis had brought with him. What? Mr. McKay's lodgings didn't have THAT many weapons. It'd look suspicious for an octogenarian to order a high-caliber rifle and have it delivered to an address on Tenth and East Street!

THRA-KRAK!

"Who SAYS men can't use a skillet, am I RIGHT boys?" Filch laughed, giving everyone a high five as they bounced up and down, wooping a bit before toning it down, not wanting to be overheard as they quickly looted the unconscious man's body.

"He's always talking to this punk named Noah. Real snotty kid. He's got this big, dumb JEW nose too, lives on Tenth and Main at this ratty place…"

"The Jews? Really?" Noah asked as he rifled through the next tipster's pockets, shaking his head back and forth. "That's IT? C'mon. I'm an equal opportunity racist. I hate everybody equally. That's TRUE equality."

"Yes, one day perhaps the Jews can hate you as much as you hate them."

"Actually I AM Jewish." Noah admitted. "I hate myself for being a flagrant racist stereotype. But can you BELIEVE how much cash this guy had on him? Besides the 100 he's got, like, almost 1000 bucks in here! I can buy a waterbed!"

"And how about you spend the remaining 650 on THERAPY?" Shepherd wanted to know, raising an eyebrow up as he lifted the unconscious victim of their mugging up onto his shoulder, putting him by a nearby dumpster before they took off for their lodgings once again.

Pretty soon a pattern was beginning to emerge for the people of their city who wanted to give tips. The realization that…nobody COULD. Because if you went in wanting a tip and weren't speaking honestly, the guards would just beat you up and send you on your way. However those that truly did know anything of Filch or the Tenth Street Red gang he hung out with were getting beaten up…and straight-up jacked. It was essentially a no-win scenario. Within a week the tips utterly dried up…

And Themis was FURIOUS.

"THOSE LITTLE _BOSH'TETS_!" The quarian roared out, banging his fists on his desk, one eye slightly bulging as the veins throbbed across his face, the rest of the security cadre glancing around at each other. "How can we not have found them?! Where in blazes are they!?"

"Despite everything we've learned, nothing panned out. And whatever information might still be left to learn…nobody is willing to talk, sir. We **tried**, but…everyone's terrified of these "Tenth Street Reds". Worse still they do all their crimes disguised with hologram inducers." One of the Turian captain of the guards admitted nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head back and forth. "The only way we even found out that it was the Reds doing it was that they always wear the same CLOTHING in the inducer disguises…"

"Nothing?!" Themis held his head in his hands, his steely desk now a wreck, papers flung everywhere, little chotkches tossed to the ground as he grumbled darkly, muttering almost incoherently with rage. The wound was not getting better. If anything, it was getting WORSE because infection had set in. He had to fly in specialists to take care of this because no amount of medi-gel was curing what those "bratty little bosh'tets" had done. He'd practically bathed his FACE in it and it hadn't taken care of the scarring.

"Sir?" The turian captain of the guard asked. "We've informed the rest of the Cadre to continue looking for possible leads…"

"Good. But for now…keep it on the backburner. Let the Tenth Street Reds think they've finally outwitted me. I can shelve this…and I'll know when to act." Themis murmured softly as he steepled his hands, a smile spreading across his foul face. "I will wait…and we will see…see how long it takes before they slip up. And then…they're MINE."

…

…

…

…Shepherd, of course, had no knowledge any of this was going on. His only concern now was starting a new life for himself. Now he had money to pay for the paperwork he needed to enroll in the military…and a little extra for supplies. In fact, he was off for training within a week. So for now, he was just waiting for his new life to begin…

And also waiting for Mr. McKay to continue his story. "So what happened? The war ended, right?"

"Yes. And Nick tracked down Jack and Eva. He called in a favor from Mr. Arterius, said he wanted to get them back home, and Saren agreed. Turns out Jack had been unconscious for weeks and was being cared for in the medical bay of the main flagship of the Turian fleet's fourth platoon which had been guarding Shanxi's quadrant and the 314th Mass Relay we'd found." Lucas admitted with a nod of his wrinkled old head, and as he coughed, Shepherd was suddenly struck with how…

How very SMALL Mr. McKay seemed to be. How old and…how small. Why had he not noticed this before? Why had he never seemed to take notice of the many wrinkles stretching across Lucas's face like gorges? The slightly yellowish, caked skin on his cheeks, the slight coughing fits he'd tried to hide, the wheezing, rasping breaths that emitted from the old man after every story? Jesus, a mere STORY got the old man winded.

" , I…I just want you to know that…I never really had a grandpa that I ever knew, but…" Shepherd trailed off, hesitating, unsure of what to say. "I just…want to say this. You, that is, I think you…if I could choose a grandpa, I'd…I'd want one who did the stuff **you** did for me." He finally managed to get out, as if the words were trying to shove themselves back down his throat.

"I understand, Shep." Lucas said with a soft smile. "Will you promise me you'll write me?" He asked. "When you're away with your men in whatever foxhole you're within?" He wanted to know, a chuckle rising from his throat.

"I promise, sir." Shepherd said with a nod as Lucas rested his hands in his lap, rocking slightly back and forth in his chair as he cheerily tapped his own forehead.

"If I remember correctly, Nick said Saren was oddly…pleased to see him. He seemed to be eager to show something off. When Nick told me what it was about, I was surprised. It appeared that the artifact they'd found in that cave had been of surprising use to the Turians…"

"And Ms. Eva?"

"Well, Ms. Eva Core was still a prisoner, same as Jack…but really more of a guest in handcuffs than a genuine prisoner." Lucas said with a shrug.

"So why the handcuffs?" Nick inquired as he walked alongside of Saren Arterius and Dr. Eve Core in a long, steely hallway, looking over at Saren's solemn-faced form. He was sure that if the Turian just closed his eyes and spread his arms out along the wall, he'd blend in perfectly as part of the surroundings. "I assure you we're not gonna try anything. For one, I don't know how to fly anything worth a darn. And for two…"

"It's to make sure the crew feels you can't try anything." Saren said calmly. "Just a matter of…regulation, really." The deep-toned Turian insisted as Nick noticed the Turian was looking at him with intense, eyes. The palest of eyes, with a chilling hue of Trojan blue staring into hazel green. "Luckily your friend is evidently close to coming out of unconsciousness and-"

"What're you doing to me?!" Jack Harper roared out, struggling to get free of the metallic clamps that were pinning him down to an almost dentist-esque chair, complete with odd medical instruments atop a rotating tool table nearby. "Let me GO!"

"Stop, human!" A red and white-dressed Turian medic insisted, shaking his head back and forth, he and another medic holding Jack down against the chair. "The restraints are for your OWN protection as much as ou-"

"Jack!" Eva cried out, Jack looking at the hallway to see her standing by Saren and the kid, who cheerily waved at him as Eva ran over to him, Saren giving the medics a firm nod.

"It's about time we removed the restraints. He shall no longer be needing them." The Turian insisted as Jack wrapped an arm around Eva, the blond-haired doctor breathing deep into his shoulder as she tightly embraced him in return.

"Eva, how long was I out? Where are we?"

"You're a prisoner, I'm afraid. Both of us. Mr. Grey here came to get us out. We've been on this ship since we left Shanxi, and you've been in a coma for weeks."

"I was lucky to get a shuttle that was so simple even an idiot like ME could drive it." Nick added with a nod. "But, um…listen, Mr. Harper, I…your friend, , he…" Nick chewed on his lip. "From what the reports said…"

"Ben's DEAD, Jack." Eva whispered tearfully as Jack blinked stupidly in surprise.

"He's…dead? How?"

"That thing in the cave, Jack! It electrocuted Ben, nearly killed you and Mr. Grey too! I'm amazed you and he weren't fried." Eva said, gritting her teeth as she helped Jack up from the chair and he held his head, shaking it back and forth as he struggled to remember what had happened.

"I didn't actually touch it, Ben did. I tried to help, I knew the risks, but…he…" He trailed off, biting his lip a bit as Nick walked forward, helping Jack up as well as he put an arm around Eva, Nick putting a hand on his shoulder. "Where's Ben? We should bury him."

"That bastard Desolas split us up when they came for the artifact, and for all I know they tossed his body in a ditch somewhere." Eva murmured.

"Jack, I just want you to know you did everything you could have." Nick said softly. "You did the right thing. That's a rare thing sometimes to see, especially in war."

"Heh." Saren chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Jack wanted to know, eyes narrowing at the turian. "And just who the hell are you?" The brown-haired human hissed out, practically spitting at the vaguely reptilian alien before him as the alien scanned him over with an odd remote-like object, an orangish/golden holo-pad unfolding before the remote as it examined his body.

"For one, you seem utterly unaffected, unlike your comrade. You're in perfect health, as far as we know. Two, that "bastard Desolas" is my brother, whom you should be grateful for considering he didn't leave your friend here to die. And three, in case you've forgotten, you're not going to a prison camp."

"You're not taking us to your home planet of Palaven, then?" Eva said with a slight frown on her features, arms folded before her chest.

"No. You see, we are now within mere miles of Arcturus Station." Saren remarked, waving a hand in the air. "Point three…you've been out for quite some time. Things have changed. In fact…the war is over."

"And I'm taking you home." Nick said with a cheery grin, wrapping his arms around Eva and Jack. "In fact, General Williams is waiting for us right now."

…

…

…

… "Well, well, WELL. We meet again Desolas…or should I say "General Arterius". It IS "general", now, isn't it?" Williams wished to know as Desolas approached him, flanked by two people in hooded cloaks utterly shrouded from view. You couldn't even tell what species they were as the blue-painted face of Desloas looked Williams over, taking notice of the scar.

"Quite a fine battle scar." Desolas said with a chuckle. "Sorry for not properly identifying myself when we first met upon Shanxi, General Williams. But to be fair, the rest of your people were fleeing for their lives, so I just assumed you were busy."

"Your memory is suffering from convient amnesia, because you seem to have forgotten we took the planet BACK." General Williams muttered, for he was also flanked by men as well.

"HOO-RAH!" The guards next to the general proclaimed, Desolas rolling his eyes slightly as Williams looked over the beings in cloaks.

"What's with the escort? Who are these…I assume PEOPLE?"

"Don't imagine you know everything about the Turian species, General Williams. There's more to us than you know, and had the Citadel Council not intervened, you would have found out." Desolas warned him with a cheery air of menace as Williams leaned in close to glare back in his face, electricity sparking in the air between the two as their bodies tensed.

"The cease-fire wasn't MY idea, and if you want to fight it out, I'm happy to oblige. But otherwise do what I sent my associate to do…**and give me my people**."

"You should consider yourself lucky that that human was able to bring my brother safely back. Had he not, I would never be giving them back." Desolas remarked calmly as Saren, Eva, Jack and Nick descended the ramp from the ship they'd been brought in down to the "diplomatic negotiations" going on.

"Well it pays to have friends in high-" Williams began to say, Eva suddenly gritting her teeth and DIVING at Desolas.

"DESOLAS, YOU **BASTARD!**"

"Eva, don't-oh, there she goes!" Jack groaned as Nick smacked his face, pulling it slightly down with one hand as Eva slammed into Desolas and knocked him to the ground, Saren chuckling a bit at how quickly she'd knocked him down.

"You didn't even TRY to help Hislop, my friend is DEAD because of you!" She screamed in Desolas's face as Saren tugged her back with one hand.

"Easy with her, Saren. They might bark like varren, but they're quite fragile." Desolas said as he rubbed his sore, punched-out chin as Saren "harrumphed" slightly.

"Well I had to do SOMETHING, brother, those bodyguards of yours aren't really of much use." He said, looking over at the cloaked figures as they clasped their hands together, slightly turning to look at Saren as Desolas stood up.

"They have their purposes, my brother. You simply have to know how to…TALK to them." Desolas said as Jack helped Eva up, Nick's eyes narrowing as Desolas spoke to the figures in a strange tongue. "Sahlam behal jahlar, hasay firi mingahm dahnam…"

"We need to return to the device…" Nick mumbled, Jack finishing off as he rubbed his chin, his eyes faintly…glowing?

"As soon as possible, but we've got much to do, we need to get back to…HMMMM…" Jack frowned a bit. That word…that last word…

Desolas momentarily looked in their direction, as if he couldn't believe they'd understood it before waving a hand in the air, glaring slightly over at Eva. "Anyhow, General, your…WOMAN'S…attack is a total violation of treaty protocol! Under these circumstances it's only right I take these prisoners back-"

"Oh, I think you've had them long ENOUGH." General Williams said icily as Saren put a hand on his brother's shoulder, Nick smoothly moving in between Jack and Eva as he folded his arms across his chest, hands gripping tightly into said arms as the general's lips curled in disgust. "Now get. Off. My. STATION!"

…

…

…

… "Perfect bill of health my ASS. Ben wouldn't agree." Jack mumbled as he sat in the medical bay, Nick swishing around a thermometer in his mouth before taking it out and looking it over, the sterile walls of the medical bay glowing faintly like the light fixture above. "That thing wasn't "harmless", I'm sure of it."

"I know. I'm sorry about Ben Hislop, he was a damn good kid. There…there were a lot of good kids out there." General Williams mumbled softly. "We were on the edge of winning until the Alliance told us to suck face with the Turians. So now we're currying favor with this Citadel bunch."

"More aliens." Jack muttered.

"They united over the greatest of American principles, I assure you." Nick said.

"**Money talks**?"

"…that's the OTHER great principle." Nick mumbled out. "I was going with "The spirit of cooperation to bring about a brighter tomorrow."

"Money talks." General Williams said with a shrug. "And I can't even STOMACH that. I think I'm gonna resign."

"I know I CAN'T, sir, not with the things I've seen. And I overheard Desolas. He talked to those things. He said they needed to RETURN to the device. It's worth checking out." Jack said as he thoughtfully rubbed his chin, General Williams smiling wryly and giving him a nod.

"If the two of you together can understand what they say, then perhaps you can spy on them. If they ARE up to something behind the Alliance's back, well…I'm not going to shed any tears over finishing what we started." Williams insisted. "Take the shuttle I had given Mr. Grey. I think Ms. Core should drive, though, if you feel the need for speed."

"You're just GIVING it to us?" Nick asked.

"He's just giving it to us." Jack insisted to Eva as they sat in the cockpit of the ship, Jack holding his head as sweatbeads broke out over his forehead. "It was his to give, he got awarded it for this big rerouting back on Shanxi."

"I unfortunately missed that one because I was whacked over the head and left to die in a ditch." Nick sighed sadly, sitting in a passenger chair nearby, resting one head on his first as he chewed on his lip. "I'm just glad Lucas found me and brought me back. Williams is lucky he got a ship so user-friendly!"

"I'll say. It's comfortable, sleek, and I haven't flown anything half as nice as…" Eva began before Jack began to cough, Eva looking over at him as he flopped slightly in his chair, Eva bounding out of hers and kneeling by him. "Jack! Oh, I KNEW it was too soon for you to go anywhere. You were in a coma for weeks! We can't do this right now!"

"We can't wait, Eva…I can't wait. I've been having headaches…visions…of darkness. Destruction. The future…all tied to that artifact. It called to the Turians from the cave. That's why we have to go. I know where they took it."

"Where? Palaven? There's no way we can go there!" Eva insisted, shaking her head back and forth as Jack held a hand up, wiping sweat from his brow with his other hand.

"No. Not Palaven…they call it ILLIUM."

…

…

…

… "This doesn't make a damn bit of sense." Eva muttered balefully as she typed quickly away at the pale orange control console to their ship. "I must have been out of my mind to let you come here. We're near the Terminus Systems, for God's sake. They're practically lawless. And from what I've read, you couldn't even start a freakin' garage band with the number of humans that have seen Illium!"

"Think of it as enlightening, as a scientific expedition, going where no human has gone before. Think of it as a far-reaching criminal investigation as we undercover suspicious activity. Think of it as an adventure, as FUN!" Nick reasoned.

"FUN?!"

"Well…if ya bought the first two…" Nick lamely finished, hanging his head as Jack shook his head back and forth, the two of them approaching the pale planet of Illium as Mr. Harper chuckled a bit in his passenger seat.

"I was practically dying a few hours ago, but now I'm feeling much better since we're here. Trust me, things are gonna start looking up. For one, you're going to get a shot at a certain Turian general over what happened to Ben. This is your big chance, Eva. I KNOW the artifact is here, and I can't imagine Desolas going anywhere without it."

"He might already be gone, but…" Eva trailed off as they touched down at a bustling, busy space port, getting out of the ship and looking around, awed at what was before them as hovercars passed overhead around towering skyscrapers of glass and steel. Lights lit up the towers in thick bars along with brightly glowing neon signs as tiny red lights flickered on and off atop the tallest of the skyscrapers, glistening windows reflecting the almost eternally-setting sun of Illium as it cast soft golden/red rays over the three, Eva taking in a long, deep breath of amazement, surprised at how…crisp and NEW everything felt. It was like taking in a new car smell, only…everywhere!

"**Woooowwwwww**." Nick whispered. "No matter how many times I see places like this…they never stop being so darn BEAUTIFUL."

"It's amazing. It must have taken forever to build all of this…" Dr. Eva Core murmured quietly. "And yet it all looks so new…" She sighed. "Look at it! How are we going to catch up to our "friends" here?"

"We'll have it all, soon. We humans are resilient. We adapt. Learn. You hit us with something we've not seen before and a week later we're mass-producing it and selling it back to you…new and improved!" Jack laughed as he clapped Eva on the back, the two making their way past blue-skinned feminine alien after blue-skinned feminine alien, all of them lacking any hair, possessing only tentacle-like appendages brushed down and slicked back, some with deep purple eyes, others with alluring blue, and all of them…well…buxom. Some weren't even trying to hide it, their outfits resembled something Barbie would wear…and not merely in how much skin was shown, but in how TINY it was!

"You will not look, you will not look, you will not look!" Nick snapped at himself, whacking his forehead repeatedly with the butt of his hand as Eva giggled. "Darn temptresses! It's like we're in Oz and there's beautiful Glindas everywhere!"

"Hold on, Dorothy. I know how impressive everything here is, but remember Arthur C. Clarke's third law."

"Who?"

"Arthur C. Clarke." Jack said, tapping the side of his head. "VERY old school science fiction writer. He wrote that sufficiently advanced technology shall always look like magic. If you remember that, you needn't fear it. But…" He trailed off. "…I think that some of this might actually BE magic."

"Oh, that's great!" Nick said, clasping his hands together and beaming broadly. "But you aren't going to really get what you want." He added quietly.

"What? What're you talking about?"

"Jack, if there's anything I've learned about the great beyond and the answers it gives, it's…that they're hard to see when you go LOOKING for them. You gotta kinda let them come to you." Nick reasoned as several asari approached them. "Case in point."

"Ahh! Excuse me, ma'am…" Jack remarked, beginning to speak to the two as Eva scratched her head. She didn't understand a word he was saying, but clearly whatever he said was helpful, because he walked back to her, grinning from ear to ear. "Well, they DID in fact see some men in cloaks! Even gave me directions!"

"You…spoke Asari. You actually know Asari." Eva murmured, gaping in surprise as Jack shrugged.

"Just…CAME to me. Strange. But anyhow…" He gestured to one of several parked hover cars that were built for four people and which had a navy blue paint job, chuckling a bit as he opened up the top. "They also said we could use these cars, they're for public transporation. So…want to try a REAL "foreign model"?" he asked of the two as they climbed inside and he began typing away on it's control console.

"What're you doing?" She asked as music began to play on it's stereo system, Jack nodding his head to the rhythmic techno beat.

"I'm surfing the extranet nexus looking for information on the relic, or at least a device by its description, AND surfing the local radio stations AND I'm checking my personal mail!" He explained with a cheery grin. "This is positively amazing."

"Jack, I'm worried that thing has affected you far worse than it did Hilsop." Eva murmured nervously. "Anyhow, I feel I have to ask…why would they not just bring it back to their home city?"

"Maybe they don't know any more about it than we do and they're here to talk to some expert." Nick reasoned with a shrug.

"Or maybe it's a weapon and they don't want it going off near home. Anything is possible…" Jack added before a "ping" echoed through the car. "Ah-HA! Jackpot. Somebody just posted on the extranet they saw cloaked figures meeting in a storage area in the East section of the city, on one of it's lower levels…"

…

…

…

…the shadows danced softly in the pale light of the warehouse as Eva and Jack and Nick made their way past boxes and crates, glancing around nervously. Jack readied his pistol along with Eva as Nick tied several white bands around his wrists, evidently readying himself for a fistfight as Jack rolled his eyes. "You never heard of the phrase "Don't bring a knife to a gun fight"?"

"Look, you do your thing, I'll do mine and we'll see how well your thing works for you." Nick reasoned as the two whispered back and forth.

"Why would they want to meet HERE? This place doesn't look safe." Eva murmured out as she readied her own pistol, chewing on her lip as they slunk past one of many railing-covered hallways.

"A lot of this city is under surveillance from what I read on the extranet. It's got a high crime rate. I imagine that whomever's with those cloaked figures wanted to get clear of it. Keep your eyes peeled. They could have figured out I know more than I'm supposed to and might want to grab me." Jack admitted. "I'm pretty sure Desolas noticed I could tell what he was saying to his "little friends", and I wanna find out what all this is about, once and for all."

"OH **CRAP**, HIT THE DECK!" Nick yelled out as what he had assumed at first were shadows of cargo suddenly MOVED, turians appearing from the darkness, all cloaked…save for a very particular one at the head, who was readying a high-caliber assault rifle.

"I'll be damned. You found your way here just like my brother guessed. You were holding OUT on us, Mr. Harper! And evidently you were far more affected by the "Arca Monolith" we discovered than we believed. Looks like we've got some more tests to run." Saren Arterius said, chuckling a bit as he readied the assault rifle.

"RUN? Good idea. Let's bolt!" Nick yelled out as he grabbed hold of a nearby crate and tossed it through the air as it's contents spilled out, red sand flying through the air as Saren coughed slightly, shaking his head back and forth.

"Really? THAT old cliché? Now you're making me invoke another through your futile attempt to escape…**SEIZE THEM**!" Saren roared out, the cloaked figures racing after them as Jack and Eva fired back, Nick tossing more crates he could get his hands on.

One of them actually grabbed hold of a crate of its own, even larger than the ones Nick had, launching it like a fastball through the air as Eva managed to dive out of the way just in time, gasping in surprise as it panted slightly, it's pale blue eyes glittering beneath its hood as Eva cringed. "Jack what in hell ARE these things?!" She cried out.

"Let's guess later, let's just get outta-GAHK!" Jack was yanked up by the thing that had tossed the crate at them, the cloaked being growling in his face as Eva gasped in surprise.

"Jack! Let him go, you sonofa-" She cried out, bounding onto it and yanking it's hood back as Jack shook his head back and forth.

"Eva, don't! It's-"

The hood fell back…and though there were metallic veins bursting through his neck, and skin ripped open exposing what appeared to be synthetic muscle beneath the flesh…though his hair was slightly burnt and frayed and his fingers had become foul claws…without a doubt in any of their mind…

"IT'S **BEN**!"


End file.
